


Write Me Into Your Fiction, Hyung

by shinealightrose



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: And Kyungsoo Ships Xiuhan, College AU, Fanfiction Writer AU, Fic within a Fic, Fluff and Fiction, Lots of Unrelated Fics, M/M, Roommates, Stupid Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-12
Updated: 2016-03-12
Packaged: 2018-04-20 08:46:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 33,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4781132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shinealightrose/pseuds/shinealightrose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kyungsoo writes Exo-M fanfiction; Jongin would rather he spend his energies noticing him - Featuring jealous Jongin and clueless Kyungsoo. K members are civilians, Kyungsoo is the biggest fanboy in the world, and Jongin doesn't like it. He doesn't like it one bit.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. So Who Is Baozi?

**Author's Note:**

> The only real pair in this fic is Kaisoo; All other listed ships are featured as part of in-story drabbles written by "Kyungsoo".

“Hey, Jongin. Do you think it’s too cliche to write a high school!au where the main characters knew each other as kids, but one’s dating someone else now, and the other is jealous, and then there’s a hot senior who’s in love with the single guy, but because he loves him so much he’s going to try to wreck the  _other_ couple so the guy he loves can actually get with the guy  _he_  loves?”  
  
How on earth did God gave a pair of lungs to Kyungsoo that he could spit out such nonsense in one breath without even looking at his recipient or acting like he cared if anyone replied, Jongin would never know.   
  
“Uhm…. what’s an au?”  
  
“Yeah I thought it sounded a little far-fetched. Besides, I just don’t see how Lay would want to help Luhan like that. Nobody’s that selfless (well, maybe Lay), but Xiuchen in a Xiuhan? Not in my fic!” He snorted, “Pfft. Romantic fool. I’ll just respond to this Suho guy and tell him: prompt-request-denied!”  
  
Was there such a thing as the sound of evil typing? Jongin thinks Kyungsoo just invented  _and_  defined it.  
  
When he first started college and met his roommate, Jongin couldn’t spazz enough to his bff Sehun about the most perfect specimen alive and how he was going to make it his mission this year to have Kyungsoo fall in love with him, and they’d be perfect boyfriends and eventually graduate and get married and buy a house, and live happily ever after, and then some.   
  
“I think I’ll just stick with a Coffee shop!au. Can’t have too many of those in this world. It’s too canon, don’t you think, Jongin?”  
  
Did Jongin forget to mention that his happily ever after was now heavily tarnished by Kyungsoo and his computer and his fanfiction, and six gorgeous men plastered all over everything in Kyungsoo’s side of the room? (Five now, but Kyungsoo didn’t dwell on that too much or else he’d start to cry.)  
  
“Uhm, do you want me to go get you some coffee?”  
  
Now he could only talk about the dreaded friend-zone and how all of Kyungsoo’s friends were apparently supposed to love and cherish afore-mentioned six five man group EXO-M as much as Kyungsoo himself. Jongin knew at least one or two names, and that was because they were all Kyungsoo ever talked about.  _Incessantly_. However, he'd yet to reach the point where he could match faces to names.  
  
“Did you say something, Jongin?”  
  
“No. No, I didn’t.”  
  
“Oh. Okay.”  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
“So how is your love mission going?”  
  
“Is it  _still_  going anymore? I don’t even know,” Jongin sighed.  
  
Sehun’s attempt at sympathy was pretty poor. “If it helps, I know a couple guys who are also fans of that group. I can invite them over sometime and maybe they’ll give you lessons.”  
  
“Lessons? In what? Fanboying?”  
  
Sehun shrugged.  
  
“I’ve already got the biggest fanboy alive sitting in my dorm room, day in and day out. I don’t need others!” Jongin fussed.  
  
“Well yeah, but it sounds like you just don’t know this band well enough to talk to Kyungsoo. So I was thinking, if you let some other guys, more impartial guys, teach you everything you need to know,  _then_ you’ll actually have a starter kit to conversation.”  
  
Perhaps his lack of a love life was a serious enough damper on his powers of logic and reason, but it didn’t sound half bad when Sehun put it like that.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
“Jongin, read this for me okay, and tell me if it sounds good?”   
  
“What is it?”  
  
“Just a Xiuhan drabble about soul mates.”   
  
_He was always there in the little things. Those secret touches and gazes from across the room that none other could interpret. Wherever he went and whatever he did, Luhan sensed him. Across the dance room or in separate corners of the van, they were all the same as if Xiumin was right next to him, touching, or sleeping at night. They were close, closer than anything, and the secret of it all nagged and burned him inside like a fire he couldn’t put out.  
  
Xiumin was better at hiding it, Luhan knew. But then Luhan knew how his face stood out, and how his expressions were always obvious, so sometimes he purposefully hyped it up in front of cameras, or pretended to look at the other members in the same way so that no one would find out. It’s just Luhan and his crazy unhinged jaw, they would say, and laugh at him later. But then much later, Xiumin would come in and laugh even harder, and they’d shut the door and lock it and laugh until their stomachs ached and then they wouldn’t laugh anymore. Not with the way Xiumin locked his lips with his own and kept his attention.   
  
Shhhhh, Xiumin would whisper under the sheets. Someday we won’t have to hide. Someday I will be able to kiss you publicly and nobody will be able to say a thing then. Will you wait for me, Luhan? Will you wait for the day when we can come out of his hiding place and take our place under the stars as soul mates? Until then will you stay with me?_  
  
Jongin cleared his throat loudly. “It’s… good.”  
  
“Yeah?”  
  
“Yeah. I mean it’s… romantic. A little cheesy maybe—“  
  
“You think it’s cheesy?” Did Kyungsoo’s cheeks just redden?   
  
“No, Yes, I mean but, that’s not the point. Cheesy is good! It’s really good. It’s about soul mates and stuff so that kind of thing is supposed to be a bit cheesy and—“  _Shit shit shit._ “You’re a really good writer, hyung! Uhm, keep up the good work? Are you going to write more to this? I mean is it done or is there more? Because I’d definitely like you to write more. When, you know, you want to.”  
  
He was rambling, and a rambling Jongin wasn’t a good thing because who knows what crap might come spouting out of his mouth and now Kyungsoo will think Jongin was just being condescending and now even their friendship would come to an end —   
  
“Thanks, Jongin.” He smiled. He actually smiled! “I think I’ll be adding more to this. Probably this weekend. I’ll let you read it again then!”  
  
Kyungsoo turned away before he noticed the sweat starting to trickle down Jongin’s temples, but Kyungsoo smiled and with those heart-shaped lips this was definitely a big deal in Jongin's world. Crisis averted, for now, but Jongin decided he definitely needed the help of whatever Sehun’s two friends could offer. And quick.   
  
  
  
"So the pretty one with the tiny face is..."   
  
"Luhan, that's right."  
  
"And the one with the cute, puffy cheeks is..."  
  
"His baozi!"  
  
"Uhmm, what?"  
  
Jongin could probably strangle Sehun right now, because his two friends who were supposed to save the day for Jongin's love life were in every respect just as crazy if not more so than Kyungsoo. Did they even speak Korean? Because to Jongin's ears Baekhyun and Chanyeol only spoke in a fanboy's code, and their particular language was a shade off from Kyungsoo's own code language, and so  _still_  Jongin was confused.  
  
By the end of their first session he was starting to recognize faces, but then half the group members had two names, or three, and then there were the nicknames and the ship names and the alternate ship names that Baekhyun scoffed at "(Lumin! Hah!) but insisted Jongin needed to know anyways,  _just in case_.  
  
They were meeting in the other dorm's cafeteria where Baekhyun and Chanyeol lived just to be safe. The last thing Jongin wanted to admit if Kyungsoo happened to walk by was that he still couldn't figure out which guy in the group Lay was, or which other member Lay was supposed to be in love with.  
  
"Okay see the guy with the dark circles under his eyes? He's easy to remember because he looks like a panda, and his name is Tao. He's the rapper. Remember: the  _rapper_  of the group. Got it? I think he's my favorite." Chanyeol's finger indeed pointed to a tall, panda-like figure, but Jongin could already see the problem with this line of memorization.  
  
"Tao. Panda. But, what if he's had more sleep since the time this photo was taken? How will I recognize him then?"  
  
Chanyeol stared at him blankly, uncomprehending. Baekhyun had to answer for him, in slight tones as if he were addressing a baby, which technically he was. "No no it's okay. Tao  _always_  looks like this. No matter what. See? It'll be easy for you to learn."  
  
"Fine." Jongin knew he needed to make some concessions. "Okay so this one here is with the weird jawline is... Chen?"  
  
"Hooray!"  
  
"You got it!"  
  
Little victories, Jongin sighed.  
  
"And the guy who looks stoned is... Lay?"  
  
"Correct!" Baekhyun danced on the spot.   
  
Jongin's eyes scrolled from the poster to the postcard to the pictures on Baekhyun's phone and back again. "But then who is this hot one?"  
  
"That's still Lay."  
  
"And the cute dimply one?"  
  
"Also Lay..."  
  
Jongin scrolled through a few more images. "And this guy hopping around is..."  
  
"That's Yixing," Chanyeol answered this time.  
  
"So... not Lay?"  
  
"No, Yixing is Lay," Baekhyun explained.  
  
"But I swear they all look like four different guys."  
  
"Ahah! But that is the magic of our dear unicorn." Baekhyun and Chanyeol smiled at each other.  
  
And the code words returned. Moving on!  
  
"I'm scared to ask, but who is the tall guy you keep skipping over in each of these pictures?"  
  
Baekhyun tittered indecisively before claiming Jongin didn't need to know, but then Chanyeol took offense and told him in no uncertain terms that this is Kris ("was Kris" Baekhyun chimed in/" _is_  Kris. He's not dead, Baekhyun") and Jongin let them duke it out for another few minutes while he gathered that this was the member who'd left and occasionally made Kyungsoo teary-eyed or throw things across the room. Jongin let them talk the subject to the ground before trying to reiterate some of the basic facts.  
  
"You said two of the guys were Korean?"  
  
"Uh huh! Chen and Xiumin. Or rather, Jongdae and Minseok." Baekhyun's hand directed Jongin's gaze to the same puffy cheeked boy he'd seen earlier.  
  
"I thought you said his name was baozi?"  
  
"It  _is_  baozi."  
  
Done. Jongin was done with the whole lot of them.


	2. Cheat Sheet for Beginners

Some people grow accustomed to falling asleep to soft music; others require complete silence or the night is ruined; and some people can sleep through tornados, earthquakes, typhoons, or a drawer of silverware clashing to the ground. It's been one whole year and Jongin's pretty sure he's been ruined for life, because what is going to sleep now without the comfortable sounds of Kyungsoo typing away? He very nearly wakes up when the sounds  _stop_ , let alone if they're not there to lull him into dreamland. It's an alternate universe all on its own, a spin-off to Kyungsoo's written fantasies. Jongin sleeps and dreams of a world where Kyungsoo is telling him he loves him, all the while Kyungsoo writes scene after scene of people falling in love.   
  
Maybe one of these days he'll write to Jongin and tell him that they are soul mates?  
  
Maybe one of these days Jongin will wake up inside a story where Kyungsoo is all his?  
  
Or maybe one of these days Kyungsoo will quit talking to himself while he writes.   
  
 _“Okay if I put Xiumin with Luhan, that leaves Tao, Chen, and Lay... should I make this one a side-Taochen? Or Chenlay... But that leaves one member out... damnit Kris, you ruined the OT6... maybe a threesome? Or unrequited love... nah, let's just make Tao straight for a change... even if that doesn't make sense... Yeah, a straight Tao is definitely unique...”  
_  
Jongin was so traumatized that night he dreamed of a three-way relationship with himself and Kyungsoo and Chen, and Sehun left out in the cold, and that is definitely not what Jongin had in mind before he went to sleep. The typing he can deal with, but the out loud, one-sided conversations Kyungsoo tends to have around two in the morning are a different matter entirely.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Sehun and Baekhyun were kind enough to visit Jongin one morning while Kyungsoo was out, bearing a cheat-sheet from Baekhyun about all the kinds of fanfiction that were possible within the Exo-M fandom. It would go along nicely with the e-mail link Chanyeol had sent him a few days before listing all possible OTPs.  
  
“Don't you guys like them for the music?”  
  
“Yes,” said Baekhyun simply.  
  
“Then how come all I ever hear about is  _fiction, ships, fiction, and OTPs_?” Jongin complained. It took a few weeks, but at least someone had gotten around to explaining the 'one true pairing'. It made sense now, since all Kyungsoo ever talked about was Xiuhan, and even when he was working on some other pairing, he always managed to squeeze some Xiuhan into the story.  
  
Baekhyun chuckled. “Of course the music is good. But where you can  _really_  connect with other fans is through the fanfiction community! I mean, unless you're one of those people who stalks them down in real life. Seriously! Those people need to learn how to chill out and sit in front of their computer screens more often like us normal people!”  
  
Jongin sent Sehun a pleading look, one that said,  _Please explain the inner workings of the fanboy_ , but Sehun offered up no help. He smirked instead with a face that said,  _Sorry pal, you're on your own here.  
_  
“Do you write then?” Jongin asked Baekhyun.  
  
“Nah. We can't all be as good as Kyungsoo. But the world always needs more readers. I mean, what's the point of writing if you don't have an audience? See, writers provide a free service, and they need love to sustain them. And me? I'm a lover, not a fighter!”   
  
“Uhmm,” said Jongin.  
  
“Mixed metaphors, Baekhyun,” said Sehun.  
  
Baekhyun meanwhile just smiled and shrugged. “Hey, I don't sweat anything too much. Here, just study. If you're going to become Kyungsoo's beta, then you'll need to know your stuff!”  
  
“His what?”   
  
“You'll see!” said Baekhyun in a sing-song voice. Jongin definitely didn't like the sound of that.  
  
“Wait, Baekhyun, I don't get it. What am I becoming?”  
  
“You'll see!” Baekhyun repeated, and whistled as he went out the door. That just left Sehun behind. Jongin sat on his bed with his mouth hanging open, but even Sehun abandoned his friend with the final parting directive:  _have fun, and study_.  
  
  
  
  
  
“Hey, Jongin. Go out with me this afternoon, please?”  
  
Jongin nearly spit out his soda hearing those words right from Kyungsoo's mouth. Mild panic attack and heart failure, more like, until he realized the tone and the words 'this afternoon’ didn’t quite turn the request into a  _date_.   
  
“Okay? Why, what do you need?”  
  
Kyungsoo actually had a habit with things like this. He didn't like going places by himself, although he never seemed to ask someone other than Jongin to accompany him on all his little errands. Jongin took that as a major plus in their relationship, and obliged him whenever possible. Anything for his precious Kyungsoo, after all.  
  
“Record store. The new album's out today!” He looked so hopeful and excited, like a kitten expecting a treat that hadn't quite made it to his mouth yet.   
  
Jongin inclined his head. Hadn't he just watched Kyungsoo download the digital version a few days ago? His roommate had been hyped up forever waiting for it to come online. Jongin knew the signs. New releases were always the worst, because they meant days of being ignored while Kyungsoo smiled and giggled and bounced on his bed, headset on, and it took forever to get his attention if Jongin wanted to say something to him.  
  
“Sure we can go.”  
  
“Awesome. Thanks! Okay, then as soon as I get out of class and get back here we can go. Actually, can you wait for me at the bus stop? We can get out faster that way.”  
  
“Yep. I can do that.”  
  
Kyungsoo preened around, gathering the things he would need for his next class, and some extra snacks and a water bottle because he wouldn't be coming back directly after. Jongin kept an eye on the clock for him, just in case he got so carried away he forgot the time. Kyungsoo did that periodically.   
  
He had his shoulder bag on, and hand on the door when Kyungsoo swung around and rushed back to his computer, cursing and muttering under his breath. His bag hit the floor as the chair came out and he sat down, pulling up a window and typing furiously away.  
  
“What's the matter?” Jongin asked, more than mildly curious.  
  
“Ugh. Nothing much. Just forgot to respond to this person... she's been pestering me all day about when I'm going to start that Layhan circus!au. But I've been so busy! And now the new album is out, I need to make scans and edits and...ahhh!” He took his hands away from the keyboard long enough to scruff up his hair in frustration. Dark tufts of it stood in every direction, and despite his cool outward expression Jongin was thrumming inside. How could a man help but want to run his hands through it? Mess it up some more. Work it into shapes. Was it long enough for pig-tails?  _Woah, Jongin, settle down_...  
  
He missed some of Kyungsoo's rant. Perhaps that wasn't a bad thing though. Kyungsoo looked rather like he was wrestling with himself. It wasn't pretty. Except it was. Pretty. Kyungsoo was pretty. Hot.  
  
“So many things to do, there's just not enough time! And really, I need to write that Taochen first since I promised that other person...” He sighed heavily, but continued to rant in between bursts of typing. “But, ugh! She's already mad at me for not finishing the Krislayhan Jurrassic Park!au. I just... I couldn't finish it. Not after... all that. 'Hiatus' It's on hiatus. What part of hiatus do people not understand? Maybe I should just delete it... No! But I can't do that. So many good scenes...”  
  
He paused and looked for a second like he was going to cry.   
  
“Uhm, Kyungsoo?”   
  
At least he turned around to look at Jongin promptly. Little victories.   
  
“Hmm?”  
  
“You should probably get to class soon...”  
  
“Oh, right!”  
  
Half an hour after he was gone, Jongin pulled out the fanfiction cheat-sheet he'd been ignoring for over a week.   
  
 _It is time!_  Jongin urged himself on, feeling a little bit proud. It's kind of like homework, he persuaded himself. Homework and a roadmap to obtaining Kyungsoo and all Jongin's dreams come true!  
  
The list was in alphabetical order, English-style, and halfway through the description of ABO verse, Jongin felt like he'd already had enough.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 **Bonus Scene**  
  
SooTheMan posts:  
  
  
  
 _The two of them darted around the hill as quick as they dared. It was wise not to move too quickly and make known their presence. After all, those little dinosaurs were easy to alert, and after what happened to their manager-hyung earlier, Lay and Luhan weren’t willing to make a single error ever again.  
  
“Luhan,” the younger whispered frantically. “Hurry up. I think if we can make it to the fence line we’ll be safe for a while.”  
  
“And how exactly is a fence going to stop them?” Luhan replied, breathlessly.  
  
“It’s electric. They can’t get past it!”  
  
“If it’s electric, then how are we going to get past it?”  
  
Lay grabbed his arm and they bent over underneath some brush, a palm tree frond swiping Luhan’s head and he jumped a little bit in fright.  
  
“Shhh,” Lay warned him. “We can get through. There’s a small door meant for humans to get through safely.”  
  
“Is that was Kris told you earlier?” Luhan sniffed. It had been the last word they had from the rest of their team members before the radio equipment went dead and they’d lost all communication.  
  
“Yes, and he said if we could all make it there safely we should be able to stay there and wait for help to arrive.”  
  
“I don’t believe them,” Luhan whined. He wanted to go home. He wanted to see the rest of his team. He missed Kris especially, and not knowing what had happened to the rest of them made his heart skip a beat and his body want to stop functioning altogether. Except, Lay was right. They had to try.  
  
The fence was in sight, finally. Luhan could hear it buzzing, and the gate itself was visible and fortunately intact.  
  
The only problem was it was separated from him and Lay by a long open stretch of grass. They’d done well to plan their route to keep upwind of the reptiles, but on open territory, if they tried to make a run for it, would they be seen? Could they do it fast enough? The gate had a mean looking handle bar on it that could require some effort to pry open.  
  
Lay tried to figure it out while Luhan looked around carefully. They had to time this just right if they wanted to make it out alive.  
  
Lay squinted his eyes in concentration. “I think… I know how it will open. Okay, are you ready?”  
  
“What do you mean, you think? Do you know? 100 percent, do you know?”  
  
“90 percent, and that’s a better chance than what we have right now sitting in the bushes,” Lay said.  
  
“Fine.”  
  
“Alright, on 3…”  
  
Something rustled in the bushes behind them.  
  
“2…”  
  
Something else pounded off into the distance, but coming ever closer.  
  
“We don’t have time for 2. Run!” Luhan shrieked.  
  
Across the greenery they darted as if their lives depended on it. They lives did depend on it after all. But of course as soon as they started moving, whatever had followed them moved too.  
  
“Velociraptors!” Luhan cried, as he and Lay ran faster. The stretch to the gate wasn’t far, and they had a head start but that didn’t make it any easier. Not when they both clattered to the chain-link gate and Lay started frantically messing with the bar across the door.  
  
“Hurry!”  
  
“I am!”  
  
The pounding of something larger echoed even closer, and Luhan frantically found a fallen tree branch. It wouldn’t help against a tyrannosaurus, but he might buy them a few vital seconds while Lay worked on the gate. The first of the little creatures was already halfway across the green.  
  
“Luhan! Lay!”  
  
The voice wasn’t theirs. It came from behind them. Behind the gate, in the safe zone. Was it Kris? It had to be!  
  
He couldn’t turn around to find out though. With all his might he swung his tree branch across the face of the first velociraptor. It didn’t do much, but just then he heard the gate creak open and Lay was shouting at him to run through.  
  
“Luhan! Hurry!”  
  
Again it wasn’t Lay’s voice. It was Kris! It just had to be!  
  
The velociraptor was already returning for strike two. Luhan couldn’t run without it following them through. The rest of the pack had scattered when the tyrannosaurus appeared, but this one refused to budge…  
  
Luhan dodged it, but a layer of teeth had pierced his arm through, and the blood flowed freely. The dinosaur veered in again, and Luhan raised his arm for the final swing. One more and he could back in through the open gate in time to get it closed… He held his breath and waited for the attack…_  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
To be continued.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
A/N – sorry but I’m putting this on hiatus :'(  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
\--  
  
  
  
 _Luhanlover298671_ : OMG please update!  
  
  
  
\--  
  
  
  
 _Fanfictionftw134_ : What? You can’t not finish this!! What happens to Luhan?!? Please tell us!  
  
  
  
\--  
  
  
  
 _Iamthebestcommenteralive_ : This chapter was so good! You could really feel Luhan’s despair, especially since he wasn’t sure if Kris was alive, and if it was even worth living anymore. Thank God Lay was here this whole time to get him through but will they be reunited? After all this time will Luhan give Lay any credit for keeping him alive and love him in return?  
  
Please I hope you change your hiatus status and update this so we will know what happens next. Thank you!  
  
  
  
\--  
  
  
  
 _Myship_isnt_in_thisau_ : I hate you. I hate you so much for writing this in the first place, but now? Now you don’t even finish it!?  
  
(1)  _reply to Myship_isnt_in_thisau by SooTheMan_ : Sorry! I really do apologize, but please look forward to my real Layhan fic I’m planning next. I won’t abandon that one, I promise! Omg the new album’s coming out today and Jongin is going with me to get it! *squeals!*  
  
(1)  _reply to SooTheMan’s reply_ : Cool for you!! I hope you can convert him to Exo-M soon and then you’ll have more things in common! Good luck!  
  
But I still hate you! <3


	3. Curiosity Kills

Jongin knew he shouldn't have done it. Baekhyun warned him not to, but then Baekhyun was the one who gave him the link to Kyungsoo's fanfiction profile and what person is ever going to deny temptation like that? Previously Jongin had only listened to his roommate's mindless talk about the stories he wrote and the occasional clipping from draft status that Kyungsoo let him read on his Word browser. Apparently those were the only things that Kyungsoo deemed wise enough to show him. He figured there had to be more out there. Kyungsoo spent too much time on his computer writing not-school-essays for there to only be a few paragraphs worth of material. What he didn't realize until he had a spread-sheet basically of everything SooTheMan wrote was how many stories Kyungsoo had written, and how many different genres he dabbled in.   
  
There was the Xiuhan soul-mates story Kyungsoo had only shown Jongin a part of; a Layhan ghost story; something about Tao in a piano bar, and a super long kitty!au involving every member of Exo-M, and Jongin didn't even want to read the description of that. Half-human cats or hybrids? Men with tails and fluffy ears? There was no way Jongin was reading any of that crap. Never, nope, nada. Not if you paid him.  
  
He skipped over something with an [M] rating because it looked too frightening and settled in for a story that seemed innocent enough and probably wouldn't ruin his preconception of life: [Three Years to Wait](http://shinealightrose.livejournal.com/5457.html), an age gap Taochen oneshot that had been recently updated.   
  
Perhaps he should have known. Perhaps Baekhyun had done this on purpose, and he was going to murder that little snot - and yet again, maybe this was important. The story was sweet enough, but what traumatized Jongin was that Kyungsoo had written himself into the story as a character - and worse still, he'd written himself an in-story boyfriend and it wasn't Jongin...  
  
Something clattered on the other side of their dorm door and Jongin immediately minimized the browser he'd been reading. To make the matter even cleaner, he shoved off his laptop completely and by the time Kyungsoo entered their room, backpack already half of his shoulder, a pile of books in his arms, folders that kept falling out of his grip and flopping to the floor, Jongin was reclining innocently on his bed with his feet straight out before him and his hands behind his head.  
  
“What are you doing?” Kyungsoo asked suspiciously.  
  
Jongin smiled. Alright so his disguise was too innocent. “Nothing.” He pulled his laptop back onto his lap and pretended to look busy.  
  
Kyungsoo didn't appear to believe him, but to Jongin's great relief he didn't press it. They spent the next few minutes not talking until Kyungsoo had his things unpacked and his computer on.  
  
“Hey, Jongin. Sehun mentioned something about you asking about Exo-M a few days ago. I was curious, since I don't think you have any of their music, would you like me to make you a CD? Or... actually I guess you can just copy some of the music onto your phone?”  
  
Jongin gulped. He heard music, but all he remembered was Sehun... Sehun and Kyungsoo. Why the hell had Kyungsoo written himself and Sehun into that fic... Jongin's blood boiled.  
  
“Jongin? Hey, Jongin are you sure you're alright?”  
  
“What? I'm fine. Totally fine!”  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
He absolutely had to interrogate his friend the next day. Jongin cornered him outside Sehun's last lecture class of the day, walked him into a wall, and gave him the look. The look that says,  _My friend, one of us will die tonight and I assure you, it won't be me.  
_  
Sehun blinked at him. “Are you constipated?”  
  
“How well do you know Kyungsoo?” Jongin wasn't giving him any time to talk this one down.  
  
“Uhm, not really all that well? He's your roommate. I've sort of known him for years... You like him, and... that's about it?”  
  
“So you acknowledge that I like him.”  
  
“Yes.”   
  
“And that means you aren't allowed to like him.” Jongin needed to very clear about this.  
  
Sehun smirked. “I abide by the bro code, yes.”  
  
“And therefore Kyungsoo isn't allowed to like you.”  
  
“Y-yes, I mean, what? Why are you asking me that?”  
  
Because this is very important, you idiot, Jongin wanted to say. “Just answer me.”  
  
“Uhhm, I can't answer you, because that's something only Kyungsoo could answer because only Kyungsoo would know? Why are you asking me this all of a sudden?”  
  
“Because I read one of his fics and he wrote himself into the story and he wrote YOU as his boyfriend in the story, and I know we've been best friends for ages, but Sehun, I'm kind of freaking out! Why did he write you in the story when you guys barely even talk? I'm his roommate. I'm the one he's supposed to fall in love with. Why is he writing about youuuu?” Jongin officially lost it. He pouted and whined and stomped and then froze and attempted to look manly and mature.  
  
Sehun had no answer. But he did reassure his friend a million times that he wasn't into Kyungsoo, and perhaps Baekhyun or Chanyeol had an answer. Way to turn the situation onto someone else's shoulders to deal with.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
“Oh, so you read the Taochen!” Baekhyun cried delightedly when the whole story came out over dinner in the cafeteria the next day.  
  
“Yes,” Jongin growled.  
  
“Why the face? It was a cute story - oh. Oh wait, I think I get it now.” Judging by the ice cold reception Jongin was giving his supposed-to-be-best friend Sehun, Baekhyun clearly judged the problem.   
  
Sehun sighed. “I was hoping you had an explanation, hyung, because I can't persuade Jongin that I don't like Kyungsoo.”   
  
“Or the reverse,” Jongin added.  
  
“Or the reverse.” Sehun rolled his eyes.  
  
Baekhyun giggled and elbowed Chanyeol in the ribs. The taller one jerked horribly, but between the two of them, it seemed they were pretty amused by the whole thing. More amused than Jongin felt they had any right to be.  
  
“Oh, come on, Jongin. Wipe the scowl and let me explain. You thought it was this Sehun he was talking about, but it's actually not. Sehun is also the name of some guy, a fan actually, who runs a big Tao fansite and he's totally in love with Tao, and takes the best pictures and goes to all their fan meetings and concerts and is practically on first-name basis with the members. Some people even ship them because it's funny, even though Sehun is probably a lot older (Chanyeol has anyone ever figured it out?) and not all that attractive (At least I guess he isn't because he's always wearing these weird ugly disguises), and anyways - my point, Jongin, is that Kyungsoo was probably just referring to that guy. Lots of fans know him, or know of him. Fic writers know it too of course, and in any case, they do this kind of stuff all the time: referencing random ships that don't actually have anything to do with the story, and it's just there to tease their readers.”  
  
“Can be a bit obnoxious, actually,” said Chanyeol. He and Baekhyun exchanged a meaningful glance and held it just long enough that Jongin figured they must be communicating in their heads about something only they understood.   
  
He breathed a little easier. “So... not this Sehun,” Jongin repeated more to himself than to the table.  
  
“Yeah, not me,” said this Sehun irritably. Jongin had made him so grumpy over the last few hours, when all he wanted to do was go back to his room and get online and edit some pictures.   
  
While Jongin calmed down, Chanyeol flagged down another guy who was making his way across the room, tray in hand.  
  
“Hey, Joonmyun! Sit with us?”  
  
The senior Jongin had only seen a few times took a seat opposite from him.   
  
“Do you know Sehun and Jongin?” Baekhyun asked the newcomer.  
  
“Not really? Hi.” Joonmyun was a little skittish, as if being in a room full of people was a daunting business and he'd much rather retreat into a mouse hole.   
  
“We're just talking about Exo-M,” Chanyeol explained.  
  
Joonmyun frowned. “Oh.”  
  
“Oh. What?” Baekhyun remarked sardonically.  
  
“Well, everyone has to like something.”  
  
Jongin eyed him appreciatively. “You don't like Exo-M?”  
  
“Nope.” Joonmyun snapped his 'p' but Chanyeol stared at him suspiciously.  
  
“You sure about that? I would have figured you for a fanboy?”  
  
“Well, I'm not, okay,” Joonmyun said a little too fast.  
  
“Suit yourself,” said Baekhyun. They continued to eat and chat about Exo-M for the rest of the meal.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Much later that evening while Kyungsoo typed and Jongin lay halfway tucked into his bed while secretly reading another off of SooTheMan’s stories, Kyungsoo paused.  
  
“Hey, Jongin?”  
  
“Hm?” Jongin turned his phone off in a flash and peeked over his blanket to observe his super cute roommate. Kyungsoo had put on pajamas hours ago, and then donned a giant navy blue fluffy robe. He sat with his feet up in the chair.   
  
“I was wondering… could you do me a favor?”  
  
“Sure.” Jongin sat up and the comforter fell off his bare torso. He shivered when he realized how cool the room had turned. Belatedly he realized Kyungsoo had turned his head away.   
  
“I don’t mean right now, but… Baekhyun mentioned this.”  
  
Well that couldn’t be good, Jongin thought.  
  
“Mentioned what?”  
  
Kyungsoo cleared his throat, and Jongin had the distinct idea that he was nervous. “Well, you’re good at writing, yes? And you’ve done some editing and tutoring and stuff…”  
  
“Yes…”   
  
“I was wondering, since I’m always writing… stuff… if perhaps you could… help me out?”  
  
“Help you out? With writing?”  
  
“No, not with writing! Just, editing. Proofreading. I… a lot of writers have this ‘beta’ who kind of double-checks chapters before posting it on the fic site. I know you don’t know too much about Exo-M…”  
  
Jongin thought guiltily of the browser on his phone featuring SooTheMan’s Exo-M YouTuber!au. He’d chosen it this night because it was written back when Exo-M was 6 members and Chanyeol had recommended it for Jongin so he could learn a little about each of the members, both current and former. He decided not to mention this to Kyungsoo yet.   
  
“Uhh, that’s alright.” Jongin’s voice came out a little scratchier than he intended.  
  
“What’s alright?” Kyungsoo looked at him wide-eyed.   
  
“I can do that… be your… beta or whatever.”  
  
“Really?”  
  
Really, Jongin would do anything for that kind of smile. “Yeah, just tell me when you have something. I’ll proof it for you.”  
  
“Thanks, Jongin. Probably tomorrow, okay?” he said, still smiling cutely.   
  
“Alright. Goodnight.”  
  
“Goodnight, Jongin.”  
  
He could so easily fall asleep to the sound of his name rolling off Kyungsoo’s beautiful tongue. He almost considered it, but then he’d just gotten to the part in the story where Luhan, the main vlogger for football commentary SqueezeDemBuns had just goofed and commented on footballer Tao’s shapely rear end, and rival vlogger Minseok for the site CatchtheDeer called him out for it.   
  
 _—“I hope you know that ass has already been claimed by the tallest footballer on that team, and you’d do well not to anger him. He’s got the blood of a dragon. If he catches you…!” Minseok warned in the comments beneath Luhan’s daring video post.  
  
—“Do you advise that I stick to commenting on buns more the size of yours?” the deer replied.  
  
—“I don’t know. You’ll have to come over and find out.”  
  
—“Of you can just get up and show us a nice peek in your next video.”  
  
—“Better subscribe to find out.”_  
  
  
  
Jongin giggled to himself under the blankets, all the while praying Kyungsoo never asked him what he was doing.   
  
He finished the chapter and scrolled through the following comments. The story wasn't finished, like most of Kyungsoo’s longest fics.  
  
  
  
  
  
 _Luhanlover298671:_  Love the update but please write more! I have to know what happens when Kris watches that video!  
  
  
  
-  
  
  
  
 _Xiuhannielovesyou:_  Yaaay they’re starting to interact more! P.S. Will there ever be smut?  
  
(1)  _reply to Xiuhannielovesyou by SooTheMan:_  Haha, wouldn’t you like to find out ;)  
  
  
  
-  
  
  
  
 _Suho_ridesTheBigUnicorn:_  Please write more Lay into this fic. It’s been 5 1/2 chapters since you even mentioned him.  
  
(1)  _reply to Suho_ridesTheBigUnicorn by SooTheMan:_  Did you change your username? I thought you were Suho_shipsChenChen last month and that’s why I wrote Chen into the 7th chapter…?  
  
(1)  _reply to SooTheMan’s reply:_  I like Chen too. Please write more of both. 


	4. What Friends Are For

There were many days when Jongin wished he had the guts to confess already. To just open his mouth and say something intelligently awesome that would make Kyungsoo fall all over himself and respond with a gush of requited loved, and Jongin would be the happiest college student in the world. Jongin had many nice scenarios that he repeated to himself on rainy days, all without knowing what these supposedly magical words he’d hypothetically say were. The truth was, Jongin was a bit of a dunce in the talking-to-crushes category of life, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t allowed to dream about it. 

Confessing to Kyungsoo and being boyfriends would have been a nice change of pace for Saturdays like today when the world stormed and raged outside and Jongin and Kyungsoo were locked in their dorm room with practically nothing to do. Or rather, they both had things to do but nothing that required actually doing something together. Pity.

Jongin busied himself with homework he’d delayed for too long, and tried his best to ignore the lump in the other bed that was Kyungsoo and his laptop. A whole year of living together — Jongin liked to pretend that had a different meaning — but really all he’d accomplished in the way of relationship progress was the term ‘very good friend’ and ‘favorite roommate’. Kyungsoo’s words to their fellow friends, not his. 

Jongin knew he could do better. That’s why he’d been working so hard to achieve new heights. And thanks to Baekhyun he’d even gotten a new tag line now as a ‘beta reader’ but the hoped-for change in this new level of intimacy hadn’t gotten him very far. Now all Jongin did was read the occasional drabble about Xiuhan ( _roll eyes, sigh, frown, omg everything is about Xiuhan_ ) and proof for grammar and misspelled words. When Kyungsoo got tired, he was obligated to tell him what a good writer he was (and okay it was kind of the truth, not that he was biased or anything), and also to answer rhetorical questions that Kyungsoo occasionally asked him. Usually though he ended up answering them himself because, how the hell was Jongin supposed to respond to Kyungsoo’s frustration about pissy readers who didn’t think the catboys in his kitty!au were realistic enough?

“God!” Kyungsoo had screeched one day. “What else am I supposed to do? If I was to write this totally realistically, I’d probably have Kris peeing on every piece of furniture marking his territory, Chen destroying the underside of the ottoman chair with his claws, Tao hiding under the piano 24/7, and Lay sleeping on the fridge. Oh, and Xiumin would probably be throwing up on the carpet every half hour, and Luhan would probably eat it all up in a heartbeat, because  _that's_  how he rolls. Now tell me, is  _that_  the kind of realistic catboy fic people want?!?”

See, there was no way Jongin had anything to add to that rant. He didn’t even want to go there.

Thankfully, Kyungsoo hadn’t asked him to read that particular fic yet. Maybe he understood that Jongin had limits, and that he required a certain pace to his inevitable immersion into the fanfic world. Slow and steady, and please, nothing with trigger warnings. Or catboys. Kyungsoo was so considerate like that.

On this rainy day, however, Jongin heard no rants about cats, or that infernal Suho fanboy who pestered Kyungsoo every day requesting elaborate angsty fics. It was bad enough that Kyungsoo was something of a moody writer anyway. Even the slice of life stories he wrote occasionally brought tears to his eyes. Kind of like now.

“What’s wrong?” Jongin dared to ask, seeing Kyungsoo peeking outside of his blankets, laptop snapped closed. 

Kyungsoo took a moment to realize he was being spoken to. “Huh? Oh… Nothing. It’s nothing.”

“You sure?” Jongin didn’t think it looked like nothing.

“Yeah, I’m fine.”  Kyungsoo reopened his laptop again and commenced writing. Jongin went back to studying, but five minutes later Kyungsoo jumped topics again. “Hey, Jongin?”

“Yeah?” Jongin looked up, ready to devote Kyungsoo with his full attention.

“How many times have you moved?”

“What?”

“How many times have you moved?” Kyungsoo repeated. “Like, moved houses, cities, anywhere, really.”

Not the question Jongin expected, but he gave it a few seconds’ thought. “About… four times? I think? Once when I was five, then three years later, and then again… and now I’m here. So, four times. Five places. Why?”

“Oh. Okay, cool,” said Kyungsoo. He was silent for another ten minutes, writing furiously and Jongin was super confused. 

It took another half hour for Kyungsoo to take a writing break and finally explain what the question had been about. He was writing another Xiuhan (go figure) based on an article he’d found linked on Facebook about how people were supposed to live in at least five places in their lives if they wanted to keep on experiencing life and not grow content and complacent. “I know it sounds kind of silly, but it was a cool thought and… I’ve always just lived here, and then I came to college, and it would be kind of cool to… move away and just see a different part of the world, don’t you think?”

Jongin gulped, at least a dozen great get-away places on the tip of his tongue that in another fantasy he would offer to take Kyungsoo away to. “Yeah, I think that’s cool. I get the idea. I mean, it’s great to start over, get away and meet new people. You’ve really always lived here?”

“Yeah. Is that really weird?” Kyungoo implored him, wide eyes a little sad as he met Jongin’s, one of the rare occasions when they actually stared into each other’s eyes. It put the pressure on Jongin, although it was a good sort of pressure, a kind that made him go a little red in the face. 

“No. I mean, no it isn’t.” Jongin had to look away. “Lots of people don’t really travel, or move places. That’s not a bad thing. You probably get all kinds of perspective that other people don’t have… seeing a place grow and change.”

Kyungsoo nodded and hummed, turning back to his laptop. “Well I’m kind of basing another Xiuhan fic on this concept.”

Of course you are, Jongin didn’t say aloud. 

“Want to read it when I’m done?”

“Sure. Of course.” Really, what choice did he have?

He didn’t expect that when Kyungsoo was finally done with it he’d still be crying a bit, not in a sobbing-his-heart-out kind of way, but he was definitely moodier than when he’d started out. Wasn’t writing supposed to de-stress people? Jongin wondered. Not make them more upset with life.

He gave over the next twenty minutes of his life [trying to find out](http://www.asianfanfics.com/story/view/853414/sharpen-this-feeling-oneshot-romance-sliceoflife-exo-luhan-xiumin-xiuhan).

“You’ve lived in five places already,” Kyungsoo stated at the end of his read-through. “Does that mean you’re done? Or do you want to move again after college?”

Jongin didn’t know how to put this gently. “Sounds to me like that article just lists ‘five’ as a suggested average. I think people can move however often they want and still be happy.” 

He’d be sure to ask Sehun later if his implied statement ( _i.e. Kyungsoo, I want to move everywhere with you if it would make you super happy; let’s go together!_ ) was obvious enough.  He was certain it had to be so. Jongin was a man of intelligent words, after all.

 

 

 

 

“Bad news! Oh my god, this is horrible news!!” Baekhyun shrieked a few days later when Jongin joined him and Chanyeol in the cafeteria. 

“What is it? Will you tell me already?” Jongin had responded to his friend’s urgent S.O.S. text message within minutes, but only because Baekhyun had sworn his news would have dire effects on Kyungsoo, and Jongin couldn’t have moved faster. 

“The worst. Thing. Has. Happened. For Kyungsoo,” Baekhyun reiterated annoyingly.

“Will you just tell me already?” Jongin didn’t have time for this. He hadn’t even seen Kyungsoo all day, so busy was he getting from class to class and the last time he’d seen his roommate, Kyungsoo was still sleeping soundly in his bed as Jongin slipped out the door. That was eight hours ago.

“It’s… I can’t even say it!” Baekhyun sniffed. “I… it’s… no I can’t. Chanyeol, you tell him.”

The taller giant nodded severely, as if coming to terms with the fact that his whole life now existed for the purpose of telling Jongin this horrible news. He inhaled sharply, and finally let it out. “It’s Luhan.”

Jongin stared at him. “Uh huh? What about Luhan?”

“He’s gone,” said Chanyeol.

“Okay… what do you mean, gone? I don’t understand.”

“He’s left the group.”

“Left… the group. You mean, Exo-M?” Jongin asked.

“Yes….”

“So…?”

“Oh my god, Jongin, are you stupid?” Baekhyun finally found his voice, loudly. “This means he’s not even IN the group anymore. He’s left! Gone back to China. Won’t ever be seen in the company of the group again. Don’t you understand what this means??”

Jongin blinked. “It means, they’ve lost one of their better singers and Exo-M is now a four-man group?” He prided himself on knowing that much at least. 

Later on, Jongin would mull over his idiocy and the density of his big head. But the warning smack he received on his ear by Baekhyun’s totally heavy plastic notebook was the first sign that he was missing something big. 

“ _Xiuhan_ , you idiot! It means the ship is broken! They won’t see each other! Ever! Again! Probably! At least publicly. No more pictures together. No more gifs. No more lovey-dovey touch my face and butt moments. Jongin, don’t you get it?  _Kyungsoo!_  Will be  _devastated_ ,  _don’t you see!?!?_ ” Baekhyun cried.

And then he did see.

 

 

 

 

“Kyungsoo??”

The room was dark when he entered it, shades turned closed and the curtain pulled shut too. The room was silent except for the slight sniffling coming from Kyungsoo’s bed. Jongin’s heart went out for him. 

“Kyungsoo? Are you alright?”

The boy under the sheets gurgled something unintelligible and Jongin strode over to him purposefully. He sat down on the edge of the bed and awkwardly patted the lump under the sheets, feeling the mold that was probably Kyungsoo’s shoulder and head. He pealed away the top sheet to reveal Kyungsoo’s watery, red eyes. 

“Kyungsoo, are you okay? I heard about…” Jongin didn’t want to say the name aloud. “I heard from Baekhyun. Are you alright?”

More sniffles, and Kyungsoo clenched his eyes tighter together, body nearly curled into a fetal position.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay,” Jongin tried to soothe him, one hand patting his shoulder and the other daring to stroke through Kyungsoo’s matted, dark locks. 

“Y-you heard?” Kyungsoo asked him.

“Yeah,” said Jongin gently.

Kyungsoo stilled, and Jongin could see him attempting to quiet his sobs and man up. It took a few minutes, but Jongin didn’t budge an inch.

Finally Kyungsoo said in a soft voice, “It’s silly, I know. To be this upset.”

“It’s not silly, it’s not.”

“No, it is. I know that. It’s not the end of the world after all. B-but… it still hurts. I’ll never be able to think about them again in the same way…” 

“What? No, sure you’ll be able to think about them.”

“No, I won’t. Because a part of me really thought they were in love, and now I’m only ever going to see them broken like this.” Kyungsoo tried not to cry again, but he failed. 

Jongin decided it was time for an intervention. He kicked off his shoes and tossed his jacket aside and crawled up into Kyungsoo’s bed, resting his back against the headboard. Then he tugged a little ungracefully at Kyungsoo’s curled up body until the boy relented and sat up. He pulled him back into his arms, back to chest, and hugged him from behind. 

Jongin tried not to think selfishly about this, but if the breaking of Kyungsoo’s favorite ship could result in this kind of skinship, then Jongin was all for it — Kyungsoo sobbed one more broken cry — but only if Jongin could heal Kyungsoo too, obviously, he hurried to amend his thoughts.

“You’ll be alright, eventually,” Jongin tried to persuade him. “I know it sucks right now, but think of all the fics you’re still writing, and all the people who are waiting for your updates. Won’t they be even happier now to read Xiuhan fics?”

“Maybe…” Kyungsoo agreed after a minute. His tears finally came to a stop, and he sat comfortably back in Jongin’s arms, almost as if he didn’t realize where he was. Or didn’t realize that Jongin had him locked in place with his arms clasped around Kyungsoo’s stomach. It was becoming increasingly awkward for Jongin though. Every little scent, every movement, every twitch, every inhale and exhale and the heat from Kyungsoo’s body was starting to get to him. In another au, maybe Kyungsoo would cry himself to sleep and pass out in Jongin’s arms, and then Jongin would get to hold him for hours, and he could stare at Kyungsoo in his sleep and sigh and coo over his adorable face, and the feel of his body… but that was a different world, one belonging also in the fantasies of Jongin, the great confessor.

“I think I’ll be alright now,” Kyungsoo said. Finally sitting up on his own strength, he pushed out of Jongin’s embrace and awkwardly played with the twisted sheets of his bed. “I think… I think I need to write. You know, a catharsis of sorts. And then I’ll be okay. Mostly.”

Jongin whined internally as he watched Kyungsoo getting out of his bed, moseying over to his desk to set up his laptop. Jongin had no choice but to get out of Kyungsoo’s bed too, suddenly awkward in case Kyungsoo looked over and saw him still there, hyperventilating at the beautiful aroma of Kyungsoo. 

“Good. Good, you should write,” he agreed sadly.

“Yep. I think I know what to do too,” said Kyungsoo, not looking at him.

Jongin stood up as well, and relocated himself on his own bed, not looking at Kyungsoo. He let a few minutes pass before he got up, intending to leave the dorm room to sulk. As he did, however, Kyungsoo stopped him with a hand to his arm. 

“Uhm, Jongin?”

“Hmm?” Jongin gulped.

“I wanted to say…” Kyungsoo looked up at him beautifully. “Thank you.”

“Huh? Thank you for… thank you for what?” 

Kyungsoo was smiling at him, and Kyungsoo smiling at him was never a good thing in the moments when Jongin was trying to maintain his cool. “For coming to me like you did. Thanks.” He sniffed again, and Jongin really wanted to just swoop down and kiss him or something.

But, he didn’t. “That's what friends are for,” Jongin said instead. 


	5. I'm Already a Fan of Yours

**Bonus Scene “One Day”**

_SooTheMan posts:_

 

_It really was unfair, Tao thought, how after all these years Kai had never picked up on how much Tao liked him. Ever since the day they met Tao knew they'd be great friends, an intuition that Kai fortunately shared with him, but it never got beyond that. Did Kai even know that Tao wasn't into girls? Surely by now he knew that much. Tao didn't try to hide it, and his friends weren't people who could keep a secret from a fellow friend. He was positive Kai knew, but he never said anything._

_Perhaps he should just be grateful that he could still claim him as a friend, that even after Kai knew (because he had to know) he hadn't made himself scarce or disappeared, and their friendship hadn't slowly unraveled like so many of Tao's other friendships had done... He tried not to dwell too much on how little Yifan wanted to hang out with him after Tao had come out, or how Luhan had smiled too brightly and then glued himself closer to Minseok thereafter. As if the very knowledge that Tao was gay meant he might try to hit on him or try to steal him away from his baozi, or his baozi from him._

_Kai wasn't like that though. He never acted any differently, and now that was part of the problem. Did he happen to like Tao? If so why didn't he say anything. Or was he just trying hard - perhaps too hard - to pretend he was fine with things, as if trying to prove his friendship was so real that nothing else was important._

_Over these things Tao mulled, day in day out. How could he help it? Kai was so beautiful to him. Everything from the slope of his nose to his carefully tucked chin when he slept at night, the way his eyes glazed over when he was stressed and turned blank when he was so tired he didn't want to even function. From the way his fluffy black hair stuck up at angles every time he ran a hand through them. Every now and then Tao would try it too - pushing a stray hair off Kai's forehead and tucking it back before growing self-conscious and messing it up even more. Anything to turn that strange look on Kai's face to one that was more carefree and humorous. Tao didn't like when Kai's expressions looked strained and confused._

_One day maybe he would confess. He just didn't know how... It was so much easier to talk to strangers online than voice his opinion out loud where there were consequences.  One day... But then maybe he shouldn't push his luck..._

 

 

_A/N_

_Hey guys, here's a drabble featuring a new original character. Because no one else in Exo-M fit the part, and every now and then a guy's got to dream. Hope you like my new Kai character!_

_-SooTheMan_

 

 

 

 

 

Jongin was having a miserable day. Actually he was having a miserable week, and nothing anyone said to him could make it better. In fact, Jongin thought about changing his friends' status to 'severely unhelpful thugs' if nothing changed soon.

“I can't believe you friend-zoned yourself? Jongin? Yourself?!? I sent you in there with boyfriend-ammunition material and you friend-zoned yourself! How lame can you get! Chanyeol, did you hear what he did? Isn’t that like the dumbest thing you’ve ever heard?!” 

Baekhyun was on a tear, for about the tenth time this week, his victim grounding into the table with his head between his arms. It was no doubt turning the bridge of Jongin’s nose into a red, sweaty mess with table imprint on it, but at least that was better than looking Baekhyun in the eye and hearing this sermon again, for the tenth time this week.

At least Chanyeol still had a bit of compassion left about him. “Yeah, I think that’s sad too, Baek, but what’s so wrong with it? I mean, we’re friends. So what?”

“So what? Chanyeol, it’s because we’re friends and not potential lovers, that’s what. But Jongin here is an idiot and—”

“Okay, enough of the Jongin is an idiot rant,” Sehun miraculously intervened. Jongin would pick his head up for this. “I need to borrow this guy, so leave it.”

He clutched Jongin around the elbow and dragged him away outside. Jongin was only mildly grateful for the change of air. He let Sehun drag him out of the food court they were sitting in and up a hill, away from the merciless Baekhyun, although no further from Jongin's own sense of stupidity and self-doubt.

“Alright, what do you want?” he asked Sehun sadly once they'd stopped. He sat on a bench following Sehun's lead.

“Nothing,” Sehun admitted. “Just thought you could use a break.”

If this was the case, then maybe Jongin could reinstate Sehun's friend status to 'mildly more helpful'. 

“Oh. Well, thanks.” 

“Don't mention it.”

“Thanks, I won't.” Jongin was just fine not having to mention it again. He was so embarrassed about how he'd handled Kyungsoo he hadn't even found the courage to check up on Kyungsoo's fic updates this week. Reading romance kind of hurt his heart. 

“Have you even talked to him lately,” Sehun asked.

“I thought we weren’t going to mention it,” Jongin griped.

Sehun didn’t push it, fortunately. Because the truth was, Jongin  _had_  talked to him. Somewhat. Or maybe just a little bit. About random things. That had nothing to do with each other necessarily. Mindless small talk about what they were going to eat for dinner or how much homework they had. It was irritatingly not enough, according to Jongin’s grand scheme of ‘How to woo Kyungsoo and look good doing it.’ If he was being honest with himself though, that plan had technically been scrapped ages ago. By now he was sure that everything was just in the dumps and would always stay there. He’d never get the courage.

If only life was like how it was in fanfics. Not that Jongin had read enough fanfiction now to start comparing them to in-world situations. Nope. But perhaps he’d read enough to develop a pet peeve about the sort of dialogue that would hit right in the moment of a heavy character collision. Two lovers about to separate forever, until somebody delivers the final, cataclysmic speech!

_ “Wait! Kyungsoo! Before you write me off completely, I just had to tell you. I need to tell you. Please don’t turn away. Can you just sit there and stare into my eyes. I have to tell you how much… how much I like you. How I may even love you, but don’t get scared off by that word. Just… let me do this. _

_ “I fell in love with you the moment I saw you. And when I learned we were to be roommates I panicked. How could I live with someone so perfect like you. I didn’t even know for sure you were perfect then. But something in my soul did. And I vowed that I would befriend you, and get to know you, and get you to like me even though I’m in no way perfect. And then perhaps you would see me, and we could love each other and get married and adopt ten babies that look just like you— err… or someone! But they would be ours, and NO don’t roll your eyes at me because you don’t believe me. I want you to believe me, Kyungsoo! I love you!” _

_ How beautiful it would be… Kyungsoo’s eyes would open wide, and maybe his perfect little mouth would even drop a bit and he’d be so stunned and overwhelmed, and the love would be flowing between them like— _

“Earth. Earth to Jongin. What are you doing? You look like an idiot. And you’re drooling. Ewww.”

Sehun always did have to ruin the best of his fantasies before they got the end.

Truthfully though, Jongin would probably be able to deliver only a small part of that speech with perfect clarity. It started and ended with the word “errrrrr…”

“I’m not even going to ask what you were daydreaming about,” said Sehun. Jongin thanked him for that, internally, because he didn’t want to speak and accidentally finish whatever diatribe his brain was currently on.

Humans off the page didn’t talk like that, at least none that Jongin knew, and certainly not himself. He’d be lucky if he could hoodwink Kyungsoo into reading eye signals or interpreting footsies under the table. If, you know… Jongin was courageous enough to even try to touch Kyungsoo’s feet. Probably he’d just trigger a reflex and end up kicked in the crotch. Stranger things had been known to happen. And Kyungsoo was already a jittery individual. Jongin definitely wouldn’t risk it.

 

 

 

A few days later Jongin was passing through the library, in vain looking for a free computer. He had just fifteen minutes to print out an assignment before class and no time to rush back to his dorm to do it. Blame early morning daydreams and waking up to a still snoozing Kyungsoo with a blanket wrapped around his whole body and just his nose sticking out. Jongin was easily distracted in the morning.

And now his homework would pay the price.

Fifty computers in this wing, and every single one of them occupied! What was wrong with people these days that they just  _had_  to have a computer! Did everyone have a roommate as cute as Kyungsoo – answer:  _no of course not_  – that they couldn’t do this at a different time?!

He dropped his book bag in the middle of the aisle and whined loudly in despair.

Someone at least took notice of him. An older boy with darkish hair that Jongin vaguely recognized.

“Oh, aren’t you… Jongin?” the guy said.

Jongin stared at him for a moment before placing his face. “J-Joonmyun? Is that right?” he asked.

“Yeah. We met a couple times. Do you… need a computer? I’m sorry I was hogging this one.”

Jongin stared again. Joonmyun had to be the second most beautiful person in the world right now, after Kyungsoo. “Yes! Oh God, yes please. I have to print this assignment out and it’s due and and and…”

Joonmyun smiled cheesily and rolled away from the desk. There happened to be an empty, desk-less chair in between this computer and the next, and Jongin happily took a seat. He wasted no time pulling up his e-mail, angrily typing in his password and was so frantic he had to repeat it two or three times before it would take.

As he waited for it to load, he noticed Joonmyun hadn’t gone anywhere. He sat next to him still with a textbook in his lap, politely averting his eyes from the screen. He hadn’t even closed down all the browser tabs. Perhaps he had more things to do and was just waiting for Jongin to finish.

“Thanks again,” said Jongin. “This will just take a sec.”

“No problem.”

Moments later Jongin had the assignment he needed, and with a flourish he smashed the PRINT button and hurrahed loudly. “Perfect! You’re a lifesaver!”

Joonmyun hummed a non-committed assent, and Jongin noticed now that he was twitching just slightly. A knee shook a little too oddly, and his smile had turned into a partial grimace. Jongin paused with his hand on the mouse, cursor about to minimize the new tab Joonmyun had pulled up earlier. He clicked on the little [x] just as Joonmyun made a frantic sound.

Jongin couldn’t help it. His eyes hit the page, and within a single second he registered what  _webpage_  he was looking at, and  _what_  he was looking at, and  _who_  the author was and at this point who could help but scan everything in sight?

 

_Kai strips quickly, not bothering to pick up the clothes. His shirt lands on the sink, jeans in a puddle on the bathmat, and his boxers, the last to go, land squarely at the base of the toilet porcelain._

_The warm water on his face and chest feels good. He wastes no time starting up a lather of shampoo, massaging his scalp and he leans forward to let the hard droplets of water pummel into his head and shoulders. It feels good, so relaxing. The steam builds around his head and he closes his eyes to savor it..._  
  
But then a blast of cold air hits him in the back. With a jolt Kai realizes that he's suddenly not alone.  
  
"Ahhh, so this is where the party moved to!"   
  
Luhan, stark naked and obviously drunk crawls over the side of the tub. He stumbles a bit and pulls on the shower curtain. The metal rings holding it up swing violently closed as Luhan steps up behind Kai. 

 _"Uhh, Luhan..."_  
  
"Hmmm?"   
  
"I'm kind of trying to take a shower here..." Kai explains, slowly, carefully. He steps closer under the spray to put some distance between his naked backside and Luhan.   
  
Luhan giggles. "I can see that!"

 

It took this long before Jongin remembered he wasn’t the only person staring at this page. Joonmyun, the original culprit, was sitting next to him still with a petrified form and bright red face. Jongin immediately minimized the window and scooted backwards, eyes burned by what he’d read and after that only two things registered in his brain.

“You… you read fanfiction?” He glanced slightly at Joonmyun, too scared to meet his eyes head-on.

Joonmyun gulped. “Uhmmm…”

“Kyungsoo wrote that, didn’t he?” That was the second thing occupying every corner of Jongin's mind. Kyungsoo writes… shower scenes… about Luhan  _and who the hell is this Kai person?!_

On top of looking mortified though, Joonmyun also looked confused. “Kyung-Kyungsoo?”

“Oh,” said Jongin. “Kyungsoo… SooTheMan… Kyungsoo is my roommate…”

“He is?!”

It was surely a whole lot nicer to see Joonmyun freaking out, because at least that kept Jongin from visibly freaking out. What had he been missing all this week when he didn’t check Kyungsoo’s fic updates?!

“Y-yeah… uhm. Anyways. Cool. That’s cool. So. You’re a fan. Uhm. Well I gotta go and thanks for letting me use the computer. Bye!” And Jongin made his escape, barely even hearing Joonmyun’s stunned little ‘Goodbye…’ as he grabbed his report off the printer and ran away. 

 

 

 

 

Later that day, much later, Jongin found Kyungsoo sitting on a bench outside a classroom as he waited for his lecture class to start. Jongin’s mouth went dry, but his heart thumped loudly as he paused to stare.

Kyungsoo was sitting calmly, eyes downward and fingers playing with his mp3 player, ear buds in, and he hadn’t yet noticed Jongin. Hadn’t yet realized what Jongin knew, and there was no way in hell that Jongin was going to admit what he read earlier. He even thought about not saying anything at all and just passing by, but then Kyungsoo happened to look up and he smiled so innocently that Jongin just wanted to die.

“Oh. Jongin. Hey. What are you doing here?” he said, removing one ear bud.

“Just passing through. You waiting for your class?”

“Yeah. Still another fifteen minutes to go before this one lets out and I can go in. What about you? Aren’t you done for the day?”

“I am…” Jongin admitted. What he didn’t want to admit is how much he wanted to race back to his dorm room before Kyungsoo got back and do some catching up with his… educational reading list.

“Oh, cool. Want to keep me company then? I’m bored.”

“Yeah, sure.” He took a seat, hesitantly, although Kyungsoo didn’t seem to notice anything off with him. “What are you listening to?”

Kyungsoo smiled bashfully. “Exo-M. I won’t make you listen if you don’t want.”

“What? No I’ll listen. If… I mean, can I?”

“You want to?” Kyungsoo looked incredulous.

“Yeah. I mean, I’ve listened to most of that stuff you gave me, and I like a few songs. Maybe more than just a few.”

Kyungsoo beamed at him. “Awesome! Really? That’s great. I’ll make a true fan of you yet.”

 _I’m already a fan of yours though…_ If Jongin was in a fanfic, he’d say that.

“Err… yeah. Go ahead.” He took the offered ear bud and stuck it in his ear and tried really hard not to think about how this forced him to sit so close to Kyungsoo. He also tried not to think about showers. 

 


	6. Dream Guy

One vaguely infuriating thing about rooming with his crush was that Kyungsoo never seemed to come out of the shower naked, or halfway naked, or in any attire more scandalous than wet hair, bare knees and feet. Sehun was always complaining about half naked dudes walking in and out of his dorm suite's shared bathroom, and yet Jongin _would_ happen to get the prude roommate - that he's in love with.

It's probably a salvation though, because Jongin has been fantasizing about that shower for a week steady now, and fortunately he hasn't yet had a call to completely jump poor Kyungsoo's bones. He imagined instead that he's Kai, and that Kyungsoo is Luhan, the character he wrote about. Or sometimes Jongin imagined he can be Luhan, and Kyungsoo could be Kai? Ultimately though, whoever takes who in the shower is a moot point. Because it was never going to happen, and for that matter it's never going to be anywhere close to happening.

Because Jongin was a wimp, cowardly, and will probably never be able to confess. And also, Kyungsoo never seemed to drink and so... no opportunies to let slip their inhibitions, and maybe kiss as a form of drunken experimentation?

Where did Kyungsoo get all his ideas for fanfiction, when Jongin knew for certain that Kyungsoo's every day life was just as boring as his own? It made no sense.

 

 

"Jongin. Jongin, I need help."

Jongin had several ideas in the back of his head about what Kyungsoo might need help with - and he'd be only too happy to please - but sure enough, the kind of help he requested had more to do with his latest serial. It was a circus!au ('alternate universe' as Jongin had to remind himself, slowly, in his mind) over which Kyungsoo had been fidgeting with the idea for the last day and a half.

"Yeah? Did you decide which characters to use?"

"I don't know. I mean, I have... but I'm still not sure. You know a little more about them now though. You can help me, right?"

If by 'little more' Kyungsoo meant the few YouTube variety show clips they'd watched together, then Jongin was by no means versed enough to set and choose member roles for a fantasy/alternate setting. If - but Kyungsoo didn't know this - he meant how Jongin had secretly been reading fanfiction above and beyond the call of duty, and he therefore had a wealth of knowledge for how the fandom at least perceived all the hot dudes of Exo-M, then yes - he could probably help. But he still wasn't ready to admit that yet.

"What have you got so far?" he asked.

Kyungsoo circled around a few times in his twirling chair, eyes lazily trailing across the ceiling as he mulled. "Well... I've definitely got Lay and Luhan for the main leads. I know, I know. It's not Xiuhan as the main pair..." he sighed dramatically. "But then it is the author's request, so... I think the real question is whether or not this fic should have clowns."

"Were there any other specifications?" Kai asked.

"Nope. None. So basically it could go anywhere. Fluff, Angst, Crack, Horror. Crack-horror." Kyungsoo paused at this thought, then squirmed. "Nah. I hate horror. Ahhhh, this is so hard! Why am I coming up blank now?"

While Kyungsoo pulled at his hair, Jongin secretly squirmed himself. He really liked Kyungsoo's hair.

"Put it aside maybe, and come back to it later?" he suggested.

"Maybe..." Kyungsoo agreed glumly. "I suppose I could just start on the other request and do that one first? ABO verse Xiuhan with a side/friend of omega Xiutao. Taoxiu? Taomin? What on earth would you even call that ship?"

Since Jongin wasn't entirely good at remembering even the most typical of ship names, he had no real suggestions and opted to keep quiet. He was technically supposed to be doing homework, but side-eyeing Kyungsoo and swooning inside his head was a much more agreeable pastime. He flipped a page of his textbook even though he hadn't fully read it. At least he could pretend to be good at multi-tasking.

"Mintao? Seoktao? Seokzi?" Kyungsoo continued mumbling to the ceiling. He bounced his legs up and down off the ground as part of his concentration technique.

"Do you even have time for all these fics?" Jongin asked after a minute of this. Seriously, he knew Kyungsoo made good grades in almost all of his classes, but rarely did he see him spend as much time studying as he did thinking about or writing fanfiction.

"Zimin? Zixiu? Wait, what'd you say? Oh. Yeah, probably? I mean there's always time if you make time for it. And if in doubt, I can always lose some sleep. Or a meal or two." He smiled.

Jongin wasn't absolutely certain that wasn't a joke. In fact, he knew the sleep one definitely wasn't. Would it go beyond the requirements as a friend and roommate to warn Kyungsoo that he should get eight hours of sleep at night? At the very least six? Would Kyungsoo find it weird if Jongin started bringing him food and drinks? Or remind him to get up from the computer desk every few hours to stretch, walk around, shake out his neck cricks, remember to use the toilet? Was it creepy if Jongin had started to wonder silently if Kyungsoo drank enough to water throughout the day to even need to use the toilet? He figured it probably was... He was starting to creep even himself out now.

"So back to the original question." Kyungsoo interrupted his creepy thoughts.

"Huh? What was the original question?" Certainly it wasn't Jongin's fault that he'd lost track of all conversation.

Kyungsoo was staring at him reproachfully. "The original question," he repeated in a low tone, one that reminded Jongin he better start paying better attention if he wanted to stay in his roommate's good graces. "The original question is: Clowns or no clowns?"

Jongin didn't have an answer. He didn't read circus fics. He never went to the circus. He knew they existed and he knew clowns existed, but why was life so hard that he was supposed to help Kyungsoo make such an important decision?

He shrugged, very helpfully.

To his relief, however, Kyungsoo seemed to like this answer. He turned back to his desk and started to write out his summary and character list in a very short, deliberate key presses. "No clowns it is, then," he hummed.

 

 

 

 

**  
Bonus Scene "Layhan Circus" DRAFT MODE!!!!!!! DO NOT POST!**

_SooTheMan thinks:_

 

**Summary** : Luhan joins a respected circus troupe expecting to make friends; Yixing just wants to hang him up on the nearest trapeze

**Paring** : Layhan, obviously

**Genre** : Circus!au, Comedy, or rather.. bad comedy? Badass!Lay

**Rating** : .... still up in the air for this one... lol

**Length** : Chaptered, possibly? Maybe just something short

**Warnings** : Rope burn(?)

 

_Character List:_

  * **Yixing** \- ~~a firebreather~~ , ~~contortionist~~ \- famous trapeze artist known for his double-joints and fluidly moving body; acts sweet on stage and is a hellion in real life, hates untalented people
  * **Luhan** \- ~~dog trainer~~ , ~~comedian~~ , ~~mug juggler~~ \- mediocre vaudeville show person, hired to 'spice up' the pre-show entertainment; He doesn't know he's there because his bad acting skills are actually intended for comic relief



 

_Side Characters:_

  * **Tao** \- fiery retired lion tamer, now twirls flaming devil sticks, isn't quite as good at it as he was with lions
  * **Xiumin** \- fairy-esque gymnist, Yixing's partner on the trapeze, the only person who's nice to Luhan
  * **Chen** \- MC of the whole show, has a thing for Tao
  * **Yifan** \- works in the pyrotechnics booth, also has a thing for Tao, and Yixing, but he can't make up his mind and so he gets neither
  * **Suho** \- a mime with sad-face makeup



 

Why do you keep writing this Suho character into your stories?

Because he's an internet asshole and I like to make fun of him

Have you ever, like... do you know who he is or something, in real life?

No. Why?

Oh. Okay...

Why?

No. It's nothing

 

DRAFT - Scene 4

Luhan never knew this day could turn out so bad. use semi-colon here? -- sure  He'd made a total idiot of himself on stage with his singing and dancing, the audience had laughed at him - at him, not even with him! He'd always thought he was a good comedian, but apparently he needed to rethink this crap because nobody had ever bothered to tell him he was so very bad. He wanted to cry. This was result of having so many friends back in school and thinking he was popular. Those people had actually liked him. They liked whatever Luhan did because to them, Luhan was a friend and apparently it didn't matter there.

Here it was different. Here he was alone, even though Xiumin seemed like a nice and personable guy - as in, he said _'Hello'_ to Luhan every time they met and smiled and actually bothered to ask him a polite _'How's the day going?'_ \- Xiumin wasn't anything like the rest of this ~~troop~~ troupe. The rest of the guys here were complete assholes, and it pissed Luhan off immensely that they felt they had license to make fun of him. It pissed him off even more that despite their atrocious face-to-face people skills, they were actually really good at what they did. Well, except for Tao, but then the fire twirler didn't _always_ fling his tools of the trade into people's faces. Usually he was pretty good at them... Luhan wondered perhaps if this was the reason Tao always kept his hair cropped short,  safer that way -  too wordy? delete -- fine   in case he ever accidentally got the flames too close to his head.

Luhan put his head down, palms caressing his cheeks with his elbows on his knees. It was quieter back in his dressing room. Chen was still out in the arena doing his halftime-show thing.   What does a halftime-show look like at a circus?? -- I don't know. I've never actually been to one  Suho had already finished his makeup already and left the room. Luhan needed some downtime while he second-guessed himself and his whole career. It was clear now he was here to be the comic relief. He wondered if that was written somewhere in super fine print on his contract. It sucked.

He tossed his dancing cane across the floor. It bounced once and rolled away, and he flung his top hat after it. He ~~sniffed~~ hissed? madly at his striped red and white jacket, and pulled his bow tie fretfully. Bow ties... he scoffed at his own reflection. Whoever said bow ties were cool.   Is that a Doctor Who joke? -- Yes, Jongin..... it is

The door to the hallway opened, and Luhan looked up. Lay   aren't you calling him Yixing in this fic? -- oops   was there scowling, or rather smirking down at him.

"So, now. How was Day 1 in the circus?" Yixing taunted.   shouldn't you write out the word 'one'? -- it doesn't matter really -- ok

Luhan didn't want to answer. He knew he didn't even need to. Yixing was just here to torment him further. He'd ~~make~~ made that very clear already, from the moment Luhan first arrived.

It was a billion times unfair -  maybe say 'incredibly unfair?' unless you think Luhan would think like that, and then okay -- Yeah I want to keep that wording   that Yixing was drop-dead gorgeous, or that he had a smile to make women weep, and many did just that. Luhan had already heard whispers about certain ladies of the audience being snuck in after a show. The sound of girlish giggles and heavy panting coming out of his room while the pyrotechnics guy staunchly kept watch, to keep anyone else out (or from finding out that the circus's star performer ~~for~~ was a ladies' man and a heart_breaker.   I think that's two words, not one. Yifan had a thankless double job.

Perhaps Luhan thought it more unfair because Yixing was hot, and if only Yixing had a better personality, Luhan would totally be into that.

"You look disappointed," Yixing was saying now. And suddenly Luhan couldn't remember what he was thinking about before.

"D-Disappointed?" he stuttered.

"In your performance?" Yixing supplie **s** with an evil smile.

Disappointed in you, Luhan think **s** to himself.   Aren't you writing this in past tense? -- Oh, yeah sorry I forgot already

Apparently though he made the mistake of saying that out loud. Luhan was a stage actor, but a bad one - and that translated to saying the wrong things at the wrong time. No wonder he sucked at his job.

Yixing cocked his head curiously. "In me?" he repeated.

"Uhhhhhh," Luhan whined, backtracking furiously in his head.

"Why in me?" Yixing took several steps forward.

Because you're hot, but you're a dick. Luhan mercifully managed to keep that thought inside his head. "I didn't... I didn't say anything. I mean, nothing."

"Were you... thinking about me just now?"

"What?" Luhan jumped backwards. His rolling chair bumped against the makeup counter, however. He was trapped. "No way! I wansn't! I wasn't...!"

"I don't really believe you," said Yixing, and was it just Luhan's imagination or did his voice suddenly drop a half ~~octace~~  octave?

"You know what I think?" Yixing continued.

"No." It wasn't really the correct response but Yixing didn't seem like he cared.

"I think you were thinking about me." His eyes narrowed and he leaned over. From this angle he had the advantage on Luhan, even though Luhan was technically taller. He seemed to shrink ~~though~~ the closer Yixing got to his face. "I think... you were sitting here all alone, imagining things... about me... and you... perhaps strung up to a trapeze, completely im mobile?"

The room was growing hot. Luhan's face was completely flushed. He didn't even need to look in a mirror to confirm that.

A heartbeat before it happened Luhan realized that Yixing intended to kiss him, here and now. He closed his eyes and held his breath, not entirely sure if this was unwanted. From the way Yixing was asserting himself over him, he expected to be completely attacked. He saw the way one of those girls from last night had left his room, lips swollen and bruised. It was going to be him now... He just knew it. And he kind of dreaded it, but perhaps the flip-side was getting to taste Yixing?

It didn't happen. Or at least not the way Luhan imagined it. Yixing had his arms braced on the counter top either side of Luhan's chair, and just his head came into contact with Luhan's. And only his lips - his terribly soft lips - touched his. It was light, airy, cushy. Luhan gasped at how sweet it was, but even with his mouth partly open Yixing didn't take advantage of that. Instead he pulled back, and Luhan opened his eyes. Yixing was staring down at him... almost fondly?   Jongin, are you actually proofing this part? I just caught several mistakes myself -- Sorry! Sorry I got distracted...Wait, I'll read it through again.

"So how was that?" he asked.

And then the sweetness was gone in a poof of smirks. Luhan fumed. He couldn't respond, didn't even realize Yixing was talking to him again.

"Sorry, I'd stay for more," he was saying. "But I got a date tonight. Guy named Kai. I'm sure you'd like him." Then he winked and was gone as well.   So... who's Kai? He wasn't in your character list... -- Lol sorry. I don't know? Insert dream guy perhaps? Hehe -- You mean your dream guy isn't in Exo-M? -- Lol nah. Exo guys are little more than fiction, you know how it is.

Luhan inhaled finally, choked for a moment and then cleared his head. Did that... did that mean that perhaps Yixing wasn't an exclusive womanizer? Luhan... could work with that.

 

_  
SooTheMan A/N:_

_And here's some more Layhan for my readers... Sorry, it's so weird writing them. I mean I like Layhan but I don't like them, because it always feels like Luhan is cheating on Minseok whenever I write him in another ship. OH well. Hope you liked it!_

_Also thanks to my new beta, "J" for proofing this. Best friend ever!_


	7. Any Ship Goes

It was a rare day when Jongin couldn't handle being in the same room as Kyungsoo. Especially a Saturday evening when they'd both finished most of their school assignments and had nothing to do but hang around. For Kyungsoo this meant writing, and for Jongin this meant hanging about doing... something... watching, or rather listening to Kyungsoo writing.

"How come you're out here then? Don't you like, get turned on by his fingers... clicking away at a keyboard?" Baekhyun dared to joke.

"Ha. Ha. Very funny," Jongin replied, unamused. 

He'd uncharacteristically accepted an invite to go hang out with his friends at a very wild, swinging type of place: a 24/hour coffee shop. Alright so his friends were rather dull, but then they had their natural highs and could always be entertaining. When Jongin was in the mood to be entertained by someone whose name wasn't Kyungsoo. Sehun had come with him. Chanyeol and Baekhyun were both here. Chanyeol kept checking his phone, apparently waiting on somebody else, but the person hadn't showed yet. They sat in a corner booth while Baekhyun worked on acquiring a sugar rush with his almost overflowing mug of hot chocolate, two servings of whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles. Chanyeol ordered something similar but with less cream, Sehun had something cold and fruity, and Jongin had... a glass of water. He was indecisive this night. He'd get something later. Or at least that was his master plan. 

"Weren't you going to invite him? Kyungsoo, I mean?" Chanyeol asked.

"I did..."

Sehun snorted.

"No take, huh?" Baekhyun inquired.

"Nope." Jongin's response was short and clipped. "He's busy. Writing. As usual."

"Sorry about that, mate," said Chanyeol.

"Yeah, well it's nothing I'm not used to," said Jongin.

Chanyeol patted his shoulder comfortingly. It was a little heavy-handed and it hurt, but Jongin tried not to make a face. "Cheer up. Exo-M hasn't had a comeback in two months. Fans need something in the meantime to survive the lack of new content. And Kyungsoo's a provider!"

"Huh," Jongin uttered, not a question, not a statement. Just a flat, bored expression of discontent. 

Chanyeol's phone buzzed and he quickly checked the message. "Oh. He's here. Good."

"Who's here?" asked Sehun.

"Joonmyun."

"You invited Joonmyun? Why?" asked Baekhyun incredulously. 

Chanyeol shrugged. "I don't know. I just did. He like... needs more friends and I ran into him earlier and so, he said he might drop by. Anyways, he should be here in a sec."

Jongin tried not to stare when the guy in question finally did enter the shop. Joonmyun, who always claimed not to be a fan of idol groups, and yet Jongin had caught him reading smutty fanfiction written by Jongin's very own roommate. And Kyungsoo didn't even know  _Suho_ridesTheBigUnicorn_  was the same Joonmyun they occasionally saw around campus. Jongin felt a tiny bit guilty about not sharing that fact with his roommate, especially when Kyungsoo was starting to write 'Suho' into his stories in such a condescending manner. Was Joonmyun reading the Layhan circus!au? Jongin wondered nervously. He was too afraid to ask, but then Joonmyun just looked as concerned when he saw the guys sitting in the booth and his eyes caught Jongin's and immediately flashed away.

So, they weren't going to talk about it, huh? Jongin thought. That was fine anyway. 

"Joonie! Glad you could make it," cried Chanyeol. "Hey come and sit."

Joonmyun took a seat opposite from Jongin and neither one of them looked at each other very much. If anyone took a wild guess, and they didn't know that Jongin was already head over heels in love with Kyungsoo, they might mistake the situation for mutually attractive shyness. However, nobody noticed.

"Jongin, could you please order something real to drink?" Baekhyun complained a few minutes later. "You're making me uncomfortable, slurping on your glass of ice water. Ugh. Have something with sugar please, and lighten up! You're finally free of your roommate for the night! You're allowed to live a little!" 

Jongin balked. "Okay..."

He finally picked out a decaf coffee drink which Baekhyun rolled his eyes at, but at least it appeased him a little.

"What's Kyungsoo working on these days, anyways?" Baekhyun asked. "Last I checked he was writing smut. Or, don't you read that kind of stuff?" he teased.

Jongin decided to ignore that, especially since Joonmyun was doing the same. His cheeks were a little redder now though than they were a minute ago.

"Uhm, well tonight he's having something of a mental breakdown?" Jongin started to explain. Upon seeing everyone else listening to him with interest, he continued. "I guess he's been trying to write some sort of hired killer or sniper!au..."

"OH!" Baekhyun interrupted. "You mean 'A Head to Kill'? The Krishan he's been promising us for ages! Finally!"

"But... now he's revising it for Xiuhan..."

"Oh." Baekhyun's elation fell.

"And there was this really complicated scene he'd written where Luhan was setting up for the kill and he had Kris' head in perfect range, and I don't know exactly how it works but now that he's writing the target as Xiumin, well... Xiumin is a whole lot shorter and... apparently now the angle doesn't work because he's... shorter, and Kyungsoo was throwing a fit about it when I left."

Actually Kyungsoo was hang-banging on the desk when Jongin left, but he saw no reason to elaborate that much.

Baekhyun actually scoffed. "Pfft. Should've left it the original way. How can you change ships mid-write-up anyway?"

"Since when were you even a Krishan shipper?" Chanyeol interrogated him.

"I'm... not... really...?" Baekhyun stuttered. "But... I'm all about the free love. Any ship goes. That's my motto!"

"You're weird," said the taller one.

"No, I'm not. I'm just open-minded. Whatever. So Joonmyun, who do you ship?"

All eyes fell on the silent intruder and Joonmyun actually gulped. "I... I'm not..."

"Oh, I know you like them at least a little bit." Baekhyun wasn't going to take any of this nonsense. "Which means you have to at least halfway ship somebody in the group! Please don't tell me Xiulay though, because those crazy shippers are just weird! Out of control! Also, Taochen shippers are just delusional. Haven't run into a sane Taochen shipper yet."

"I thought you just said any ship goes?" Sehun asked him with a laugh.

"Did I? I meant any ship can sink if I want it to. Anyways, out with it Joonmyun. Just give me a name or two. Come on, come on."

Jongin watched as Joonmyun's face turned redder and redder.

"I don't know? Maybe... maybe, Chen? And... Lay? Perhaps?"

"Ah hah! So you are a fan. I knew it! Hey, do you read fanfiction? Do you know Kyungsoo writes fanfiction? You should check it out!" And Baekhyun was full into SooTheMan-promoter mode. Poor Joonmyun, was Jongin's last thought.

 

 

 

 

 

**Bonus Scene "A Head to Kill"**

_SooTheMan writes:_

 

It was a hard life, a hard night, a hard rooftop. The smell of death, the stench of the city wafting upwards. Luhan didn't notice any of that though. Not when he had a job to do. Not when he had a body to kill. 

His stake out was a lonely place, three in the morning, and no moonlight to speak of. The city was always covered in clouds. Smog was the friend of the sniper assassin at night. It blocked out the moon's rays, kept him shrouded in darkness. Luhan reveled in it, his dark black leather pants and jacket the perfect outfit for blending in. He set his tripod, checked the scope of his rifle, silencer in place, and then he lay in wait. 

They hadn't given him any information about his target. That was how he worked: no questions asked. All he knew, as he peered through binoculars at the building across the way, was that somebody would be entering the lit-up room. Somebody would walk right into his anonymous employer's trap, try to uncover a secret mystery file, and then Luhan will kill him. One, quick bullet to the head. Pow. And then his job would be done. No pick-up, no clean-up. He'd stash his weapon and disappear into the night, and no one would be any the wiser. Tomorrow he'd wake up in his nice pent-house purchased in another name and casually make himself a perfect cup of hand-poured coffee as he'd learned from his lover long long ago, and wait for the next assignment. The only regret he had in life was that he never poured coffee for two. Those days were gone. His lover was gone. Dead perhaps, killed, or disappeared. He never figured out which it had been. Not that Luhan had any time this evening to dwell on that. 

He ran through the facts of the job in his head. The target would be enter through the far right door, and make his way to the desk on the left. He should be about 6' 2'' or 1.87 meters tall and dark-haired. He set his rifle for the perfect angle, exactly where he estimated the target would stand before he bent over the desk, right above the window bar. It would be the perfect shot, and if he was off by even a millimeter the whole job might be scratched.

He waited. His watch read the hour as 2:58 am. Getting closer. Luhan stretched his muscles, relaxing his body so that he would be ready.

2:59 am. Luhan circled his head around his shoulders, clearing the cricks out of his neck.

3:01 am. Any time now. He inhaled slowly and deeply, and then exhaled, once, twice, ten times. 

3:03 am. And still nobody had shown. Perhaps they were late. Perhaps his information was wrong. Perhaps he should allow for human error. Not every person about to be murdered followed an exact timeline after all.

3:06 am. The door was opening. Luhan held his breath, watched as the door knob turned and then opened and in walked the figure. The room was dark. He couldn't see him very well except for a shadowy profile. 

Something was off though, and Luhan frowned trying to figure out what. The figure walked just as he should towards the desk, and Luhan put his finger to the trigger, waiting for the target's head to align perfectly so he could blast his brains out. 

But the head didn't align. And then the target was turning on a light by the desk and before Luhan had time to adjust his measurements, he suddenly recognized that face. No person with a towering six foot plus height, that was for sure.  No dark hair. The target was six inches shorter! With blond hair! This was all wrong. All completely wrong! And while Luhan cried out in his head, brain confused, his heart stubbornly insisted that it knew the target. It knew that face, and those eyes, and those cheeks and that body.

"Minseok..." Luhan whispered to himself, heart pounding in his chest. "Minseok... Where were you..."

Then, "Who are you...?" 

His lover, his lover he'd thought dead for years was in that room, rifling through that desk, bent over looking for the bait he should have been assassinated for. And yet... Luhan couldn't pull the trigger. The angle was wrong. He kept telling himself that over and over again. The bar is in the way. He'll miss the shot. The target will be startled and he'll duck and run away, and then never appear again. Minseok will disappear again...

Before he even realized it, Minseok, the target, had realized there was no secret file in that desk. It was a bust, just like it was set up to be. Except Minseok wasn't supposed to walk out of that room alive. That was the plan. But Luhan let him live...

 

_To be continued..._

 

 

 

 

 

"Hey, look. It's Kyungsoo!"

Chanyeol's announcement dragged Jongin out of his self-indulgent daydreaming in a hurry. "Huh?"

Chanyeol was paying him no attention, however. "Hey, Kyungsoo! Kyungsoo, we're over here!" He waved him over to their booth. "Wow, you said you'd invited him, Jongin, but I didn't think he'd actually come."

Jongin sat up very straight, eyes roving the coffee shop until they met with Kyungsoo's, who had entered in hesitantly as if he rarely went outside, or as if he wasn't sure he was really invited. 

"You came," said Jongin, trying not to sound like he was _too_ incredibly over-joyous. 

"Uhh, yeah," said the writer. He stood by the side of the table and stared around, as if wondering where he should sit. Chanyeol and Baekhyun sat on the inside, then came Sehun and Joonmyun on one side. There was actually more room next to the Joonmyun, but Kyungsoo deliberated and then took the half-space next to Jongin. Jongin immediately elbowed Chanyeol so that he would move and the entire circle scooted over to their left until Kyungsoo had the proper amount of space. Jongin's heart rejoiced. 

"You want something to drink?" he asked him in a hushed tone. Everyone else at the table except Joonmyun was staring between them with suspiciously knowing looks. 

"Uhhm, nah. Not really. I had instant coffee earlier and I'm kind of already hyped up. I just came to... hang out."

Kyungsoo rarely 'hung out' with people. And everyone knew that. He either went to his classes or stayed in his room except for the occasions when he nagged Jongin to go out and run errands together. Kyungsoo hated the grocery store and always wanted someone - his roommate - to go with him. 

"Well, cool you made it!" said Baekhyun. "Jongin was telling us earlier that you were writing something that was giving you difficulty."

Kyungsoo blushed and side-eyed Jongin, silently asking something along the lines of, How much do you tell them? Fanfiction in some circles was still kind of a taboo subject. Kyungsoo had gotten plenty of rolling eyes and incredulous disdain. Jongin knew, because he had started acting that way too when they first met and he discovered Kyungsoo's secret. He'd spent way too much time since then trying to reassure Kyungsoo he didn't think he was a monster for writing fiction... about boys... who were based on boys... in real life. 

Fortunately Baekhyun read that look well. "Oh, don't worry. We're all mostly fans here. Except for Joonmyun, but we're working on him now!" 

"I see..." Kyungsoo stared at everyone in turn, and when he was faced with only smiles he seemed to relax. 

"So did you fix the sniper-target height problem?" Baekhyun's question seemed to make Kyungsoo revert back into his shell. He glanced once more at Jongin almost reproachfully before answering.

"I... I think I did. Sorta. Had to... change up the plot a bit, but it'll do. At least I hope so."

"Oh good! Because I've been looking forward to this one for a long time!" Baekhyun exclaimed.

"You... read my fics?" 

"Yeah. For a long while. I'm your number one fan! Well, after that other guy who's always beating me to the comments section. Suho-whatever."

Joonmyun met nobody's eyes, least of all Jongin's, but at least Kyungsoo looked more and more relieved.

"Oh. I'm glad to hear that. I hope you don't mind I changed the pairing. From Krishan to Xiuhan."

Baekhyun hesitated, but one well-placed elbow to his rib from Sehun and he answered, "Oh no problem! I love Xiuhan! OTP and all that... good stuff. Love them. To the death! Hashtag xiuhan four life." He smiled, and it was so fake, but Kyungsoo wasn't looking at him anymore, Jongin was glad to see.

He spent the rest of the night still in a daze, happy that Kyungsoo had come out of his little man cave of a writer's world, and that he had apparently only done it for Jongin. Or he only felt comfortable here because of Jongin. He watched him converse and chat with his friends, none of whom were really strangers to Kyungsoo, but since he didn't socialize that much Jongin never knew he could actually hold a verbal conversation over something that wasn't fanfiction related. It was amazing to see. 

The downside to watching Kyungsoo talk was that Jongin spent so much time being amazed at how his lips moved, he sometimes forgot to talk himself. He would zone out until he realized someone was asking him something, and the few times Kyungsoo looked at him curiously, Jongin's eyes seemed to glaze over completely. 

It was past three o'clock when they finally broke up the party. The rest went their separate ways, Baekhyun and Chanyoel back to their residence building, Sehun and Joonmyun theirs, and that just left Jongin and Kyungsoo to walk alone back to their room. Jongin yawned all the way there, and Kyungsoo was no less tired. Their arms kept bumping, their feet zig-zagging all over the sidewalk, and once when Jongin almost dramatically walked into a bush Kyungsoo reached out and held his arm. Thus he avoided a collision, and got Kyungsoo's fingers around his bare skin, and it didn't matter that it didn't last very long. They played around more and more as they walked, hands and arms and shoulders bumping along, and it seemed both turned into very giggly tired people at three in the morning. They might have been drunk, but really they needed no extra help. 

"Nooo, my bed's a disaster zone!" Jongin cried when they finally managed to get their door unlocked. He'd left books and notebooks all over it, and he whined as soon as he saw it.

Kyungsoo was laughing at him. "Don't you know the rule... Never go out at night until you've made your bed ready for when you return."

"I thought that rule only applied to people who are going out to get drunk," Jongin whined.

"Well, looks like the same applies to people like you," said Kyungsoo with a taunting smile.

"People like me??" Jongin moaned.

"Yeah. Mr. I can't even walk straight when I'm sleepy."

"Hmmmph. I don't want to clear it," he cried, standing in the middle of the room staring at his bed with a defeated look in his sleepy eyes.

"That lazy huh?" Kyungsoo said. "Need me to help or do you just need to crash in my bed?"

Ohhh, that offer. Something in Jongin's head roared, and yet he couldn't actually bring himself to respond. Was Kyungsoo being really genuine, or was that just him speaking one of his fic dialogue lines out loud? Jongin decided he didn't dare to find out and disappoint himself. It took him approximately ten seconds to clear his bed of all his junk and then he climbed in, alone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Luhan awoke early, early in the morning. His bedside clock read 4:59 am. Somebody had entered his apartment. Lawfully, legally. He heard the security code beep from the outside, someone entering his pin number, and the door opening. Nobody knew that pass code other than Luhan. Correction, no one anymore knew that code. There had been someone in the past, but that person was dead. Luhan had thought he was dead, until tonight when he let him live.

He sat himself up in bed, hand almost reaching over for the pistol he kept concealed beneath his bedside table. Then he decided he didn't need it, didn't want it. Footsteps came slowly, softly down the hallway, right to the cusp of his open bedroom door, and Luhan held his breath when a figure appeared in the doorway. He held still, nearly invisible in the dark, but he should have known it was pointless.

"You're awake," said the figure. He sounded just the same. Luhan wanted to cry.

"Minseok..."

"Yes." It wasn't a question, not really a response. The man confirmed he was alive and there with all the gravity of a feather in the wind, and yet it was so much more.

"I thought you were dead," said Luhan, evenly controlling his voice because that's all he had left.

"I almost became so tonight."

Both were silent, letting Minseok's words sink in. His face was starting to be familiar now. Light from the hallway starting to seep into the room, and Luhan could see how tired and exhausted he was, how much older. It had been almost four years since he last saw him. Four years since they both woke up and Luhan had kissed his cheeks in good morning, and they'd showered and eaten breakfast and got dressed and went their separate ways to work. Minseok was a kindergarten teacher. He was supposed to be a kindergarten teacher. 

Luhan couldn't respond, and so Minseok spoke again.

"You think I didn't know that was a trap? That you were probably stationed somewhere with a scope, ready to kill whoever entered that room?"

Luhan's throat went dry. "How did..." He stopped and then changed tactics. "If you knew that, then why did you enter?"

Minseok never came home after that day. Vanished and disappeared. He hadn't shown up to his job. When Luhan, frantic, went to inquire, the school hadn't even heard of Minseok. They looked at him like he had gone mad, and perhaps Luhan had. Minseok had never been a teacher. He'd never worked in a school. Everything was a lie, and now he was gone.

Minseok smiled. "I wanted to see what you would do. If you would pull the trigger. Or... if you would forgive me."

Luhan's whole being turned to rage. "I thought you were dead! You disappeared, you were gone out of nowhere one day! I found out I didn't even know who you were! You lied to me! Minseok, tell me which one of those things am I supposed to forgive you for?!" 

His hands balled in the sheets, and despite his shouting, his eyes were weeping. 

Minseok didn't say anything for a minute. He stood in the doorway, motionless. And then he slowly began walking forward, closer to the bed where Luhan waited, where  _he_  hadn't moved. 

"Any of those things... all of those things... Luhan, I'm sorry," he spoke so softly. 

"For what?"

"Everything. Luhan, I love you. That part wasn't a lie, then or now."

He couldn't be serious. Not now after everything he had put Luhan through; it just wasn't fair. Luhan loved him with every fiber in his being and yet Minseok had betrayed him and ripped that heart from body. And then he showed up trying to offer it back. 

"I don't know if I can forgive you."

"I know that," said Minseok, if his name even was Minseok. Luhan didn't trust anything anymore. "I know... but I still had to try."

It hurt, everything hurt, and Luhan didn't know what to do. He was so tired, and his body ached. His heart ached, and yet here was Minseok standing before him, pleading everything but offering him no explanation.

"Okay..." he said after a moment. Minseok didn't speak, but he did look at him with something close to begging. "Okay," Luhan repeated. "Come to bed first? Tomorrow I will tell you if I can forgive you or not."

Minseok smiled so sweetly, so earnestly. Luhan didn't know if he'd made the correct decision or if he'd just set himself up all over again. Maybe this time it wouldn't be Minseok who disappeared, but himself. He couldn't bring himself to care though, not after Minseok was tossing his belt and shoes on the floor and climbing into the bed. Not when Luhan's arms were finally sinking around Minseok's waist. And definitely not when he was kissing Minseok's tear-stricken face, nose to nose finally, again, at last.

 

 

_A/N_

_Xiuhan ♥♥. I'm so happy to be writing them like this, finally, again, at last. :) Any ship goes, but you know what? Xiuhan goes forever._

_Comments, please! Comments are a writer's best friend._

_-SooTheMan_


	8. Sick Bed

Jongin knew he was probably being annoying, but still he hovered around Kyungsoo's bed, wringing his hands and clearing his throat, perpetually concerned with what he could do to help. 

“Do you want another glass of water? Oh, what about tea? I still have that brand new hot water kettle my mom gave me, still in its box. I could make you tea!”

“Do we even have tea bags?” Kyungsoo coughed, covering his throat. He'd been in the process of getting sick for two days, and finally when they both woke up, Kyungsoo had a good, full blown cold and Jongin did not know what he could do for him. His whole brain was looping words and phrases in his mother's voice, everything he could remember her ever saying when someone in the family was sick. 

“I could... ask the neighbors if they have some. Or go to the store. Oh, what about soup!? Do you need soup?”

“Not yet.” Kyungsoo coughed again. “But, thank you?” His voice was hoarse, deeper than Jongin had ever heard. 

He just felt so  _useless_. Never before had he been in charge of a sick person, and having it be Kyungsoo as his first was a daunting task. What if he failed? What if Kyungsoo died from neglect! It was a fanciful notion of course, but all the worst outcomes continued to run through his mind no matter how much Jongin tried not to panic. Mostly because this could  _also_  be an opportunity to show Kyungsoo just how much Jongin liked him, by being his nurse. And if he failed even in the little things, then what good was he? What good was it that Kyungsoo was Jongin's crush, if he couldn't even make him comfortable and healthy. 

Kyungsoo shifted in his bed, tossing off a sheet as he swung one leg and then the next off the frame and tried to stand up.

“What... what are you doing?” Jongin asked.

“I have a box of medicine somewhere in the bathroom. I was going to get it-”

“I'll get it for you!” 

It took Jongin probably an extra five minutes of searching - Kyungsoo would have found it faster - but it was the only thing Kyungsoo finally consented to let him do, that and bring him a glass of water, so Jongin was determined to make the most of it. 

Alas, Jongin did still have class to attend, even though Kyungsoo was planning to skip all of his. He tried not to overload him with  _How are you's_ and  _Still feeling okay?_  text messages, in case Kyungsoo was sleeping. At each rare reply though (his roommate always claimed he was fine), Jongin would smile nervously wondering if it was the truth, and one time Sehun even boxed his ears for playing with the light up screen of his phone more than was necessary. It was the only thing he felt like he could do since his fingers were itching to text back more and more questions of concern.

“You do realize how pathetic you're being right now, don't you?” Sehun said.

Jongin had met up with his friend for the half hour break between each of their respective classes. It was too short a time for Jongin to run back and check on Kyungsoo. Fifteen minutes there if he speed-walked, and then fifteen minutes back. Although if he  _ran..._

“What?” Jongin barely registered Sehun had spoken.

“I mean like, the way you are acting. That's how boyfriends act, not two guys who are only friends and roommates. You want to play nurse? Why don't you actually ask him out and then instead of hovering over him and probably smothering him to death, you could acquire cuddling rights instead.”

“Cuddling rights...” That sounded like an amazing thing.

“Yeah, and then you can do all that smoochy goodness stuff and  _How is your fever?_ questions away from me and in private somewhere. Believe me, there's a lot of us guys who can't wait for you to just get a move on.” Sehun sighed long and hard.

Jongin was still thinking he might be able to run back for one quick check-in, before he reminded himself that probably, Sehun was right. He needed to chill. He was probably suffocating Kyungsoo already and that was the last thing he wanted: for his roommate to actually  _want_  him to stay away.

 

 

 

That night, however, Kyungsoo didn't seem like he was fed up with Jongin just yet. He was still stick, although medication made him marginally more functional. Jongin made sure to discretely change out his empty tissue box for a new one and he even opened up the box containing the hot water appliance and plugged it in. He didn't have tea yet though. He promised Kyungsoo he'd get some in the morning because after all the fretting he'd done away while wandering campus, he was still idiot enough to forget to stop by the store or to ask their neighbors.

“It's alright. Don't worry about it.” Kyungsoo still smiled at him between sneezes and coughs, and that was alright. “Actually, there is one thing you can help me with...”

_Even better!_ Jongin inwardly cried, already jumping up to assist with whatever Kyungsoo asked.

“I need my laptop brought to me. Do you mind?”

“You need...?”

“Yeah. I've done nothing but sleep half the day. I feel like writing now only I don't want to get up. Just unplug it there and... yeah, I don't need the mouse you can leave it. Wait, can I get a pillow for my lap. And- something else to prop me up. And...”

It took five minutes before Kyungsoo decided he was properly reclined and his laptop balancing just right, and he didn't seem to mind how the process of pillow and blanket adjustments required Jongin to get a little handsy around his shoulders and back. Jongin minded of course, but all in a good way.

“What are you...?

Sometimes Jongin was a little afraid to ask what Kyungsoo was writing. Was it something innocuous? Something fluffy? Or something sexy? And if it was the latter, then it usually had Jongin blushing like a school boy, and that was definitely an impression he did not want to leave upon Kyungsoo. Jongin wanted to seem worldly, mature, able to handle the occasional smut like a pro.

Even if he completely failed at that.

“Uhh, I guess it's kind of historical?” Kyungsoo responded after a moment. “Another request for a Xiumin-centric fic, but they didn't specify the pair so... I was thinking of just creating my own character again?”

“What... kind of historical?”

Kyungsoo coughed and blew his nose before jabbing at his laptop and bringing up a new page. Jongin could see the light from the new browser reflecting off Kyungsoo's already pallid complexion. Sick as he was, his eyes were still furrowed deep in thought, like he'd already forgotten he had a roommate, so far was he into fic land.

“Xiumin's some kind of nobleman. I'm curious...”

“Hmm?”

“Should I call him Xiumin this time, or Minseok? I never know which. I mean, I'm really partial to his real name but if he's going to be a nobleman this time... then something pretentious like 'Xiumin' should actually fit. Don't you think?”

“Uhh, yeah. Sure? Sounds good?”

“I'm going to do that. Okay!”

He started typing, meanwhile Jongin - satisfied that Kyungsoo would be good for a few minutes - took a pair of clean pajamas and went to shower. He came back into the room ten minutes later, hair wet, shirtless, towel around his neck, and he didn't even bother trying to feel self conscious because normally Kyungsoo never even noticed when he walked around like this. In fact, his roommate didn't even look up or take his eyes away from the screen. His fingers were busy typing away, sometimes at lightning speed, and sometimes they'd just stop and not move at all. A few taps here and there and then... inspiration would take and he'd start drumming away again.

Kai stood by his own bed, back to Kyungsoo, and he toed off his sandals and whipped off the towel to finish drying his hair and the damp places along the ridge of his spine. His skin was still warm from the steam of the bathroom. For a second he considered putting on a shirt, but he was too hot and it was much more comfortable like this.

He dropped the wet towel to the floor, considered leaving it there. But then he remembered Kyungsoo had a pet peeve for wet towels lying around smelling up the place, and so he bent down to pick it up. He laid it across his clothes hamper instead, stretched his arms above his head and yawned. It was only ten o'clock, and yet he felt like passing out. Kyungsoo evidently didn't need him anymore, he was so immersed in his start-and-stop typing. Jongin glanced across the room one last time. Beside Kyungsoo's bed was already everything he needed, including more cold pills for when his next dose was up.

“Need anything?” he asked him anyway.

Once again it took half a minute before Kyungsoo responded. “No, but thank you.”

“Okay then. Goodnight.”

“Night, Jongin.”

And so he spent another night falling asleep happily to the sounds of Kyungsoo typing, only the occasional cough and sniffling which barely interrupted his sleep cycle.

 

 

 

 

**_Bonus Scene “Stable Room”_ **

_SooTheMan writes:_

 

_Xiumin and Luhan practically staggered off their horses after riding up to the stable yard late in the night, only one torch light blazing. It cast long shadows across the mud, and Xiumin hollered loudly when his boots hit the ground with a squelch. Beside him, Luhan echoed similar disgust._

_“This place is a pig sty, Xiumin! Say, what are you even paying your servants for?”_

_“Shhhhhhhhhh, not so loud!” Xiumin yelled theatrically. “You'll wake the stable boy!”_

_Luhan paused dramatically, his head cocked to one side, mouth hanging open. “But... isn't that the point?”_

_Xiumin stopped to think about, and then he nodded. “Hey, what do you know. You're right!”_

_“And we're drunk! Come on, I need a place to crash for the night.” Luhan started trudging off through the mud, not even caring that his horse was still unattended._

_Xiumin hollered some more, waiting for the kid to come out and take the reins so he could let go, never mind the fact that he was using the horse as leverage to remain standing. His legs felt like jelly, his head floated in the clouds. He giggled randomly, and then started yelling again when a figure actually emerged from the tiny quarters next to the stables, one confused and terribly sleepy looking young man who dashed forward at the sight of his young master stumbling about._

_“Took you long enough!” Xiumin complained as he threw the reins, took one step and promptly tumbled into the muck. He squirmed when the man leaned over to pick him up, tossing off the help indignantly and huffed as he took himself off to the mansion to pass out somewhere._

 

\--

 

_Come morning, however, Xiumin felt miserable. A headache that was unaffected by any drink or food he put in his mouth, his arms were limp, his knee bruised from some kind of rock he must have fallen down onto the night before. As soon as he was able, he determined to blame the stable boy for not being fast enough. That seemed like a logical course of action. Servants were there to serve, and it wouldn't do to keep lazy workers around the estate, especially if they'd happened to witness the young master's embarrassing fails. Xiumin tried to keep his drunken escapades a secret from his father, and likewise that his partner in crime was always Luhan. No one in his family approved of the other man's flighty lifestyle and deemed him quite inappropriate company for the heir to the estate, but Xiumin never bothered with their opinions. At least not to their faces. And that was why he decided to strike some fear into the stable boy. If the kid acted haughty, he would fire him on the spot for... some reason. He was sure he could find one. And if the boy didn't seem like the type to keep his mouth shut, well then... Xiumin would find a reason to make him._

_Rubbing a hand to his temples, which still ached, Xiumin marched around the horse pen. He stuffed his hands into the pockets of his riding jacket as he approached the boy's quarters, kicked at the door once with the toe of his boot and when no one answered, he rapped sharply on the door with his fist._

_He heard a feeble and panicked, “Yes!? Coming!” but Xiumin was done waiting. He opened the door on his own and went right in, oblivious to the sudden gasp from the stable boy who'd been so slow the night before, and was still being slow right now. Xiumin sighed loudly in disdain as the boy - who'd still been in his bed long after the risen sun - scrambled out of bed in his just his trousers, no shoes and not shirt as of yet._

_“Still sleeping? I see?” asked Xiumin with a cheeky little laugh._

_“I... I'm sorry, my lord! I...” He coughed just as Xiumin scoffed loudly._

_“'My lord?' Please, that's what they call my father. Why are you still in bed? Don't you know there's work to be done? Slow as dirt in the mud, that's what you are. What's your name anyways?”_

_“K-Kai,” said the boy, before he covered his mouth with the crook of his elbow and coughed once more._

_The smirk on Xiumin's face fell a bit when he realized the boy, Kai, actually didn't look very well. He took a step back just in case it was contagious. Meanwhile Kai coughed and coughed while searching for his shirt which was at the foot of the bed, and when he finally did come up for air and tried to put it on, he sneezed loudly instead, using his shirt as a rag._

_Xiumin grimaced, and Kai looked embarrassed. He quickly turned his back and used the shirt to wipe his face and then, because he evidently didn't want to put it on dirty, he just stood there. Xiumin couldn't help noticing how toned were the muscles along his back, damp slightly from sweat. The air in the room was musty and there were no windows to even vent the place. Kai had probably been lying in his bed all night trying to sleep and be sick, and Xiumin felt a twinge of pity as he remembered last night._

_“You're sick?” he asked, even though the answer was obvious. Xiumin faltered because he had no idea what to do anymore. Sick people were not his forte. Not even close._

_“Just a cold, my lo- uhm, sir.”_

_Xiumin put on a stern face, even sterner than he meant to be. “The horses need attention. Are you able to do your job or not?”_

_Kai looked like a whipped puppy the longer he stared at him, hovering between indecision and his obvious desire to just pass right out on his bed again. Also, perhaps Xiumin had been hanging out with Luhan too much because compared to his friend's skinny frame, Kai looked kind of robust, even in his weakened state._

_“I- I can do it. Please, forgive my late morning. It won't happen again.” He actually gnawed his lower lip in worry, and every bit of Xiumin's resolve was lost._

_“Do what you can. I'll have the house send down someone else to help you for today only.” He found something else to look at in the tiny room, because the sight of Jongin was actually a little distracting._

_“What? Oh, please, no you don't have to!” Kai instantly cried, but Xiumin brushed him off with a wave of his hand, suddenly embarrassed at how he felt like blushing himself. The shirt Kai was holding onto slipped to the ground and he startled like it was a bomb going off and just a piece of fabric hitting the cold dirt floor. Jongin seemed to panic before his eyes, apparently frozen by Xiumin's look of disgust. He probably didn't realize it wasn't because Xiumin was sickened by the stable boy's carelessness, and more to do with his own sense of regret._

_“It's no problem,” he said lightly, snapping his head away from the sight of Kai bending over to retrieve the article of clothing. “Just... do me a favor, will you?”_

_“What?” Kai lurched back upright. “I mean, yes!?”_

_Xiumin was already backing out of the room. “Just... don't mention to anyone that I came home drunk last night, please?” Instead of demanding the favor, Xiumin's voice shook, even to his own ears sounding less defensive and more... pleading. “I'll send someone to help you. I hope... you get better soon.”_

_And then he abandoned the room before the sight of Kai shirtless could confuse him any further._

 

 

A/N

Here are some random drabbles. Take it or leave it. ~Soo

 

 

 

_IdontknowKaibutIlovehim_ : Omg it's your OC again! I love it when you write in new characters, and this one just sounds adorable no matter what au you write! <33 And a nobleman/stable boy story?!?! UNFGGGHFHSDfhasdf

 

_IonlyheartLu_ : Ew what is this pairing. Please write only Xiuhan. Xiuhan4lyfe. Thank you. 

 

_SiriouslynotBaek_ : This is really ingenuitive, and I like the.. original character you have included. *coughsbtwdidIseeanametypocoughs* I have to know more about this story! Write soon! Write soon! Or I will harrass you in real life. Not that I know you in real life. Nope. We have no idea who we are. Seriously. So, please don't block me again! J/k Love you. But not like someone else I know- HEY! Looking forward to updates Call me.


	9. Skills Workshop

One weekend morning, Jongin woke up to the sound of Korean rock music instead of Exo-M. In a bizarre twist of fate, he wonders if someone replaced Kyungsoo with Baekhyun overnight, or if perhaps Jongin wandered somewhere else in his sleep, because... what?

He rolled out of bed, immediately twisting around to find his shirt. But indeed, it was still his room, and that was Kyungsoo hunched over his laptop, eyes intent on the screen Jongin couldn't see, his headphones laying on the desk forgotten.

"Soo?" Jongin whispered against the sound of an electric guitar and singer. He scratched his head, still wondering what had changed. Kyungsoo almost never listened to anything beyond the music of Exo-M.

"Huhh?" Kyungsoo groaned. Then he realized Jongin was awake. "Oh! Sorry! I... forgot..." His voice trailed off while he hastened to mute the speaker and pause whatever he was doing. Jongin didn't dare ask him to finish that statement. Did Kyungsoo forget about the music potentially being too loud to wake him up, or did he forget he had a hot roommate by the name of Jongin? Some things perhaps were better not to know.

"Uhh, you didn't bother me. Just, what are you listening to?"

"A... kind of a rock song?"

"Kind of?" Jongin snorted. "How do you listen to kind of a rock song? And... why?"

He didn't mean to sound offensive, but Kyungsoo sniffed up his nose anyway and contrived to look wounded. It didn't suit his face at all, although it definitely worked to make Jongin guilty.

"It's for... science," Kyungsoo answered a moment later.

"Science...?" Well that made even less sense than before. "Do you mean, for a fic?" Jongin inquired.

Kyungsoo's eyebrows immediately shot upwards. "Yeah!" Then he laughed. "How'd you guess?"

Jongin smiled. A lucky guess? Or maybe the only thing that Kyungsoo did for recreation that was beyond the scope of actual school work and studying and driving Jongin mad from unrequited love.

"What's the plot?" he asked conversationally. In his head he went over all the things he needed to do today. Get some studying done, return a few library books, turn in an assignment to a particularly picky professor, ask Baekhyun if he thought Kyungsoo might have been basing original characters on Jongin and if so, what the hell did that even mean!? If he was a little more brave, he'd ask Kyungsoo himself but, alas, he was not.

"Rock star versus Kpop singer," Kyungsoo said, interrupting Jongin's fretting. "I'm still trying to pick the pairing... so many good options for this, and definitely Luhan needs to be the rocker because, well, because. As for the other one..."

Jongin yawned. Yeah yeah, another fic, another day, another OTP that wasn't Jongsoo. Some part of his frustration, however, magically reached his mouth. "Not gonna insert your favorite new character, Kai? I thought you liked him."

Silence.

Oops.

The words were out before Jongin could take them back. A cold sweat broke out all down his back, his forehead suddenly ice cold. "I mean..." But Jongin didn't know what he meant. Or rather, Jongin hoped Kyungsoo didn't know what meant. That he was having second thoughts (or maybe wishful thoughts) about Kai, but how could he be sure?! The point was, he couldn't be sure, and how could he go and do such a stupid thing as bring him up like this?! He hoped the floor would just open up and take him already. Take him from this world and maybe he'd wake up in alternate universe where there was no fanfiction to trap Jongin into saying stupid stuff like that.

"I..." Kyungsoo seemed even more nervous, if that was possible. "I was thinking... Chen actually. Luchen... Because, I've never written them before..." His voice shook for a half second, and then he composed himself. "And anyways, I've written Kailu before so..."

Right, Jongin remembered. Kyungsoo has already written Kailu before... in the shower. "Well, cool. Sounds like a plan. Hey, I'm gonna head for breakfast. You coming or... not?"

Usually that answer was  _not_. In fact the whole question was rhetorical and Jongin was already slipping his shoes on in the doorway so he could walk to the cafeteria, completely not expecting Kyungsoo to follow him. But the universe was all backwards today, because his roommate shocked him once more by darting out of his chair and crying, "Yeah, actually, wait for me! Haven't... eaten since last night... and I... didn't sleep last night..."

So that settled that.

He waited, and together he and Kyungsoo trudged halfway across the dorm building to find something to eat. A real breakfast date, if he could be allowed to call it that. Now if only they weren't accosted by somebody they knew...

"Hey, Soo! Hey, Jongin! My favorite couple! What's up! Hungry?"

It was Baekhyun of course, Chanyeol just behind him.

Jongin's luck apparently was up. 

 

 

 

 

Over the course of the meal though it continued to get worse. Recognizing that Jongin was particularly tongue-tied around Kyungsoo with witnesses surrounding them, Baekhyun played it up. They conversation turned endlessly, from the sloppy state of Jongin's shoelaces, to the wrinkles on Kyungsoo all-nighter t-shirt, to the horrid cafeteria food and finally to fanfiction. Because the world was definitely out to get him, and the world - also known as Baekhyun - had a ready-made item to use.

"Luchen, huh?" Baekhyun wagged his eyebrows. "Entertainers make great story lines. I can see it now. What chemistry, what sexual tension. So, is this one going to be spicy? How 'bout them smooches!" He made the kissy noises to accompany that. Kyungsoo blushed. Jongin turned white. Chanyeol crunched on burnt toast. Joonmyun strolled by with a tray of food, heard the noises and immediately kept on going by. 

Jongin was so immersed in his own embarrassed fantasies that he almost missed Kyungsoo grumbling. So too did Baekhyun, although the guy was merciless in driving out whatever he'd said. And the result was not as Jongin would have liked.

"I... I have... well, trouble writing... kiss scenes..." Kyungsoo confessed after much coaxing. 

Suddenly Jongin was just as interested in his toast as Chanyeol. 

"No way?" Baekhyun put his elbows up on the table, supporting his head between his palms like this was most intriguing thing in the world. "I'd have never guessed. I mean you write them so frequently."

"Yeah, I guess. It's just... hard to visualize them. I write slowly." Kyungsoo looked at his plate, and not at anyone's eyes.

"Huh," Baekhyun stated with a sly smile, and Jongin just dreaded what was coming next. He grimaced. And then it came. "Well, it's not like you wouldn't have a great practice partner if you only asked." 

To everyone's credit, no one assumed Baekhyun meant himself. And that was probably the most mortifying thing of all. Jongin gulped, Kyungsoo blushed even redder, and Chanyeol finally choked on crumbs. Jongin suddenly became very intent on checking the messages on his phone that were in no way new, just a stupid selca from Sehun from the night before, but he clutched onto that picture like a lifeline.

"Really though," Baekhyun continued to dig their graves, "how hard is kissing really. Or writing kissing?" He stood up and dragged up Chanyeol by the collar, the other hand pulling Kyungsoo along as well, and as they happened to be sitting near at a table nearest the wall, he back-stepped Kyungsoo up until the frightened guy was up against it. "Chanyeol, come on. Demonstrate."

"What?!" said the tallest of them all, eyes wide open but not as much as Kyungsoo's. Or Jongin's.

"Yeah. Like you've seen in the dramas. You know, throw your hand up against the wall. Madly. Sensually!" 

Kyungsoo had turned to stone. Chanyeol was a noodle. Baekhyun glared at him once and then he hastened to comply, sloppily throwing one hand out to palm the wall next to Kyungsoo's head and... froze, awkwardly. 

Jongin had stood up as well, although he didn't know what he was supposed to do. Save Kyungsoo like a knight in shining armor? That would have been fic-worthy. If only he'd been Kai, and not plain old Jongin, the roommate with the crush and no balls to do something about that. 

"Oh, come on, Yeolie!" Baekhyun whined. "You're supposed to be helping out here!"

"Helping with what?!" 

Kyungsoo remained frozen, even as Chanyeol chickened out completely and took a step back, Baekhyun adamantly demanding that he act out the role required and kiss Kyungsoo. "You know how it goes! You've read the fics! Plaster your mouth to his, get your lips to ask him for entrance, and then let your tongues battle for dominance!" Baekhyun cried and whined, but Chanyeol was retreating faster than Jongin had ever seen him do so, meanwhile Kyungsoo gasped in fright and happened to catch Jongin's eyes, where they stayed for just a moment too long.

All the blood rushed south, and Jongin almost croaked. Kyungsoo's eyes seemed to dance, and in their peripheral vision, he happened to catch Baekhyun's grin of total mischievousness. 

And then they all looked away.

"I... I don't think that's exactly how it always works, Baekhyun," Kyungsoo said definitely, clearing his throat and rejoining his breakfast plate at the table. Jongin sat down as well and just... breathed. What. What exactly was  _that?_

 

 

**_Bonus Scene "Rockstar"_ **

_SootheMan writes:_

 

 

If there was anyone Jongdae hated more, it was Lu Han. And of course when he said hated, he meant teach that rock singer a well-earned lesson in humility because Lu Han was such an asshole, just to Jongdae. They'd been dancing around each other for five years now. Five years they'd been in show business, and Lu Han with his too pretty face and his raw voice was somehow being hailed in 'some' circles as the rock star of the future. Meanwhile Jongdae had had only one hit song. According to Lu Han, that was a fluke, and privately - definitely not publicly - Jongdae was inclined to agree with him. Among the entertainment sphere, ballads were just not as popular as catchy riffs and guy-liner. It wasn't fair, but then again life wasn't fair, and Jongdae was never going to resort to such gimmicks as Lu Han was always doing, just for a few more fans and popularity.

"I'm a rockstar, baby," Lu Han had told him the last time they met, backstage at a music show when Lu Han's song had won #1 and Jongdae hadn't even been in the ranking. Some girl group called Exa had given Lu Han a run for his money, placing second with a margin of 2,000 points. Even girls could not compete to Lu Han. 

Jongdae had scoffed, then smiled sweetly, rolled his eyes at Lu Han and walked off. "Try again next time, huh?!" Lu Han had called, like the ornery creature he was, still trying to ruffle Jongdae's feathers, although to what purpose Jongdae had no idea. 

That was two weeks ago, and Jongdae was still quietly promoting his songs, recording unplugged versions 'Best Luck' while Lu Han was already done, a collection of 5 winning trophies added to his pile before Exa could finally win one. 

Jongdae admired the trophies up close, hands crossed across his chest as he waited for his manager Zitao to catch up with whatever the guy was bringing up from the car. A party. Of course he'd be obligated to attend a party, at Jongdae's house, with Jongdae's friends. Appearances mattered of course and so what if their companies had been rivals for twenty years longer than Jongdae's and Lu Han's respective careers. There will be some pictures taken here and uploaded to official social media because everyone wanted to see singers pretending to be like each other, smiling blandly cheek to cheek while off screen they hated each other's guts. 

"Jongdae, so good to see you," Lu Han simpered. 

Jongdae immediately turned to greet him, smiling just in case anyone was watching, although to his surprise it was just them in the hallway. Perhaps that accounted for the less than hate-filled expression the rock star was giving him. If official media pictures were supposed to look sweet, in the company of others they were used to keeping up animosity. But when no one was watching, no one at all, not even managers or staff or close friends of either party, there was almost little point in pretending to be better than the other.

That didn't make him like Lu Han anymore though. It just meant he could take his time, really think about some good one-liners and wait to deliver them with all the clarity his professional disdain for Lu Han's craft required. 

"Your trophy case is lovely, Han." He stressed lovely, just in case the rock star was already drunk, and therefore dense to sarcasm. 

"It is, isn't it..." Luhan smirked, and then licked his lips. Jongdae didn't know why that small movement drew his eyes, but he glanced upwards again before the other could notice. Sometimes he cursed the guy for having such sparkles in his eyes. Just another reason life wasn't fair, because if the rocker looked like an absolute angel, then why didn't he act like one. Why did he always seem to have it out for Jongdae in one way or the other. Unfortunately, between the lips and the eyes, Jongdae felt a tiny bit cornered. Uncomfortable, if he could admit that much to himself. 

Looking around, there was no one else coming to save him either. Just Lu Han, who was continuing to smirk and smile even as he put his hand up against the glass of his trophy case where there five new wins had been added to almost a dozen from previous years. 

"Well, if ever you get lonely, you're welcome to come and visit them. Give you something pretty to look at, since you probably have... what... a few ribbons? For effort?"

Jongdae was known for looking polite. His smile was cute and adorable, catlike even. Everyone said so. Right this moment though he knew it was gone from his face, every bit of sweet that sweet normally sweet temperament. Lu Han always did bring out the worst in him. He also made him want to wipe that smirk from Lu Han's lips. With his lips.

Jongdae blanched, startling even himself, because where did that even come from!

Any retort he might have made was wiped from his mind. He cleared his throat, intent on restarting the evening completely, and for once time was on his side. Zitao arrived back up the stairs shoulder to shoulder to Yifan, Lu Han's beleaguered manager, the two politely arguing as they always did because company policy required it. Jongdae followed the two of them, and then stayed close to either Zitao or some of their other friends for most of the night. 

These parties didn't usually excite him. In fact, he couldn't wait until he could bow out, but appearances had to be kept up and after the homepage worthy picture of the night where Jongdae and Lu Han gave thumbs up at the camera and then separated almost immediately.

Somehow, a few hours into the evening, he found himself back at the trophy case, waiting with foot tapping for Zitao to come out of the bathroom so they could leave already. He didn't see Lu Han coming up until the man was right by his side, and he jolted just a bit for the shock. 

"Back here again, huh? I see you can't possibly tear yourself away."

"Shut it, Han. I'm just waiting for my manager."

"Zitao?" Lu Han laughed. "Well I'm looking for Yifan too, so you can expect it'll be a while."

Jongdae... balked. Well, shit.

"Anything I do can to help you pass the time?" Lu Han continued. That smirk was back. That smirk that Jongdae wanted so desperately to wipe from his face entirely. 

"Pretty sure there's nothing you can do to help me." Jongdae's line of sight, however, betrayed him, eyes glancing once again at Lu Han's lips, and this time the rockstar definitely caught him looking.

"Is that right?"

"Yeah..."

"Nothing I can do to help you?"

"That's right," Jongdae reiterated. 

"But maybe there's something you can help me with?"

Lu Han took a step forward. Jongdae took a step back, and was that... a reciprocating glance at his mouth?! He tried clearing his throat again but it was pointless. His back was to the glass of the case, his hands down by his side, and he could have so easily put them up to stop Lu Han, but the moment the other stepped in too close, instead of halting him, Jongdae let him come.

The other's hands touched him first, fingers rolling hesitantly across Jongdae's shoulders while Lu Han's mouth came ever closer. Maybe, maybe they could just have this moment and then go back to hating each other's guts? He hadn't kissed anybody in at least four years. Dating hadn't exactly been a priority, and there was nobody who'd taken his fancy. Not even to mess around with. Jongdae knew he was grossly underpracticed. Unskilled even. Still, how hard could it be to just, let go? He closed his eyes, waiting for the press of Lu Han's lips against his, and when it happened, he even wove his arms gently against Lu Han's hips until they wrapped around the small of his back, waiting for the rush of emotions....

 

 

 

Five minutes later he was sitting in the backseat of the nanny van with Zitao driving, arms crossed over his chest and pouting.

"I can't believe I caught you kissing!" His manager continued to rail. "Kissing! And with Lu Han! Of all people! You know it's not allowed! If the CEO found out, he would... he would..."

"Fire you because you were occupied in another room kissing Yifan?" Jongdae dared to fire off in return. He huffed, and Zitao flailed wildly.

"That is not the point, Jongdae! WE are not celebrities. YOU are. And you just... you just can't!"

Jongdae did not argue with him. Not now, not when his emotional manager was already more emotional than usual. They fumed in silence for the rest of the ride while Jongdae recounted in his head everything that had happened. He was not proud of himself. A moment of weakness, and look at what he got. An irate manager, and now he officially has a history with Lu Han. Lu Han, his less than favorite person in the whole wide world. 

It was late when they arrived in the underground garage. Zitao parked the van and hit the engine, and Jongdae jolted awake from whatever snooze he'd put himself into. They neither of them moved for a second though, Zitao checking him out in the rear view mirror to see if he'd actually offended his charge in any way. Zitao was always like that, yelling initially, and then groveling back to make sure there was no real harm done.

"Sorry..." he started to say. Jongdae hummed in response, still not moving. He saw Zitao's mouth open and close, and for a moment he was sure his manager would never get out what he wanted to say. But then, "So... you kissed Lu Han..."

"Yeah? What about it," Jongdae growled.

"I... just... well, how was it?"

Jongdae snorted, rolling his eyes. He unclicked his seatbelt and started for the door, Zitao following suit as Jongdae replied. "Wet. Wet and sloppy. His breath tasted like stale beer, and where the hell do people even put their hands when kissing! Or their tongue! It's weird, okay! It was weird as hell and I can't believe we did that! I just... need practice, apparently. Lu Han even said so... 

He resolutely did not meet Zitao's eyes after that. He'd already suffered enough mortification for one night, thank you very much.

 

 

_A/N_

_If anyone can give good kissing advice, comment below. Thanks. Please keep it PG though. My friends do read these fics and I'd like to not give them too many ideas... /sighs. ~Soo_


	10. Rampage

This might have been the first time in living history where Jongin noticed it, but he swore Kyungsoo was glowering. Sulking, glaring, pick whatever word you wanted for it. Kyungsoo looked unhappy. It probably had to do with the classmate sitting prettily on Jongin’s bed. In two days Seulgi and Jongin had a massive final exam. It seemed only logical at the time to accept her invite to study together. However, when it turned out that she wanted to go to his room and not hers, Jongin couldn't come up with an excuse. He stuttered and smiled, and in the back of his head he recognized that she was most intentionally flirting with him. He didn’t want to bring  _that_  home to Kyungsoo, but by then it was too late.

She talked too loud. Jongin supposed that had to be the reason Kyungsoo was glowering.

“Heeey, Kyungsoo,” Jongin had hastily introduced them. “This is Seulgi, she’s in my lecture class. Seulgi, Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo, Seulgi.”

They shook hands rather flimsily and Kyungsoo hadn’t emerged from behind his computer screen since. Only Jongin sat at an angle where he could see his roommate’s face.

“Maybe we should finish this later on, huh?” he tried to speak. He and Seulgi had only gone through the first 3 pages of their joint-study packet and after two hours of this, they were only a third of the way through.

“Oh. What time is it?” She swung her long-braided hair from one shoulder to the other and pressed her lips together. In another world, in another time, maybe Jongin would think she was cute. But then there was Kyungsoo, and Jongin definitely knew where his bias lay.

“It’s… about 4 o’clock?” Jongin quickly made up an errand he needed to run before dinnertime, which Seulgi accepted.

But then she said, “Shall we finish it tonight then? Want to grab something to eat before then so we can go all night?”

Something fell off the side of Kyungsoo’s desk, but Jongin was too panicked to look.

“Uhhh, uhh…”

“I mean, we have to eat. We can recap what we just went over, and then come back here… That is…” she leaned over to catch Kyungsoo’s eyes, “if that’s okay with your roommate?”

The response was immediate. “Fine. That’s fine.” Kyungsoo’s voice sounded a little pinched.

“Great! Well then, Jongin, I guess I’ll see you soon. 7 o’clock?”

“Sssure, where?”

“The sandwich place on the corner. That sound okay?”

Somehow Jongin managed to answer and see her to the door, and she waved before flouncing away down the hallway.

He closed the door, and then stared at it for a moment. It was awfully quiet inside the room. A few seconds later, Kyungsoo’s fingers picked up on the keyboard again. Jongin didn’t look at him when he walked over to his bed. The comforter looked crumpled from where he and Seulgi had been sitting, several of the pillows out of place. He threw them back at the head of the bed and straightened the sheets. Then he lay down, crossed his arms over his chest and closed his eyes. Perhaps if he just pretended Seulgi didn’t exist, he wouldn’t have to go out with her later on tonight.

“Weren’t you going somewhere?” Kyungsoo interrupted his silent pleas.

“Huh?”

“You said you had an errand to do. Aren’t you going then? You only have three hours before you’re supposed to meet… her again.”

Wow, Kyungsoo remembered details. A wave of mortification ran once again down Jongin’s forehead, imagining Kyungsoo secretly listening to everything they said. He assumed Kyungsoo had been buried deep within his fics, too busy to pay them any attention. Then again, he had answered Seulgi really quick.

“I’m… errand. Right,” Jongin mumbled, grumbling even more as he stood up. He had no choice now but to find something to do outside the room. He perused the room and thought fast.

“Groceries! Do you need any groceries?”

Kyungsoo paused, his fingers poised above the keyboard. Only his eyes turned to stare at Jongin, and his lips didn’t move. Usually, they went together to the store because it t made more sense that way. Kyungsoo liked to share the bill for all their cereals and snacks, and Jongin could never remember everything that Kyungsoo liked to eat.

“You’re… going alone. Okay. Uhm, ramen?”

“What kind?”

“Any kind. And water. Please, thank you.”

He sounded petulant. That was great, that was  _absolutely great_. Now though it was too late to change his mind and ask Kyungsoo to go. “You want some chocolate too? I’m craving chocolate…”

“Sure. Whatever you find. Thanks.”

Jongin sighed. He grabbed his wallet and stuffed it into his pocket, then ran out the door, praying he’d remembered everything correctly. He was pretty sure, fairly sure, maybe 75% sure that Kyungsoo was a dark chocolate kind of man? He should have asked. Damnit, he should have asked.

 

 

 

 

 

_**Bonus Scene “Rampage”** _

_SootheMan writes:_

 

_A/N sorry for the random gore and character death..._

This part of the house was cold. The sun had set, a sheer gust of wind seemed to blow down the halls, and that kind of thing should have been impossible. Luhan swore loudly. He turned the doorknob at the end of the hall but it was just another locked door. Every door was a locked door. The entire house was trying to kill them, and Luhan had no idea why.

“It’s just a haunted house, come on, it’ll be cool!” That’s what Irene had said earlier. They were on winter vacation, him and his friends, hiking in the mountains, and the local tales all pointed at this deserted house as a place of spooky attraction.

Luhan wondered if they were the first, or if countless others had disappeared before them. Were the townspeople in on this too? Were they part of a yearly sacrifice or something? He’d been trying to rack his brain for the last two hours while they searched for an exit, but every door was barred shut, including all exits to the outside world. Mysterious footsteps had haunted them every step of the way, loud shrieks in the night, the sound of cats yowling, dogs snarling. A shotgun.

Irene was already gone, missing; he presumed she was dead. Suho as well had vanished into the shadows. One minute he stood behind Yixing and Luhan as they panted heavily, running through the halls trying to find some way to get out. He was there, and then he wasn’t. They heard a scream a few seconds later, but when they doubled back to find him, there was no trace.

_‘Many will enter, only 1 will survive.’_

Luhan only thought that creepy roadside sign had been a joke. Just another laugh for the sake of the tourists, hyping up the thrill of the house.

Now though, he wasn’t so sure.

His clothes soaked with sweat, his heart beating frantically. Yixing flew past him at the next door, and this one too was locked shut.

“This has to be an outside room. Come on, Lu, help me!”

They put their shoulders to it and slammed hard. The wood grains seemed to cave, splinters forming where they shoved. Luhan felt them slice through his shirt and lodge in his skin, but he didn’t feel the pain. At least this doorway had something to give. There _had_ to be some way out of this house. From the outside they’d seen numerous windows, most of them boarded up. They just couldn’t seem to find them from the inside. But maybe this time… through this door, they’d be successful.

Something stalked them from the other end of the corridor.

“Hurry!” he urged Yixing. The door was almost busted. They looked at each other and hesitated, then together they threw the full force of their body weight. The door shattered as they crashed through. Luhan yelped as they tumbled to the ground, his arms catching on a pile of ropes that burned as they scraped his skin.

“Luhan, I was right! There’s a window!”

The thunderous steps echoed closer, louder.

He scrambled to his feet and pulled Yixing up. There it was, the window. It was glass of course with a few bars of wood nailed across the pane, but it looked fragile. They could tear it down, break through the glass and climb to safety. If they just had the time…

Luhan dove towards it.

Yixing, however, flailed and fell towards the ground. He started shrieking a moment later, and Luhan turned around to see why.

Luhan had missed them, the bodies on the floor, but Yixing had tripped right over them. His hands were bloodstained now, his body boneless from the shock, but he managed to right himself and back away from the two corpses of their dead friends. Luhan’s stomach churned. It had been hours since he ate, but he felt like he could still throw up.

Of all the rooms they’d barged into, it had to be the one with their friends’ dead bodies. Suho looked like he’d been xxxx--censored content, too graphic for this website--xxxx and Irene’s face was drained of blood.

“Luhan,” Yixing cried, his eyes never leaving the floor. “The window. We have to get out! You… have to get out!”

Without another moment’s hesitation, Luhan turned back to the window and began yanking the planks. They cut into his hands, and tears filled his eyes, but the first one was off. “Help me! Come on!”

And still the footsteps of whoever stalked them drew nearer in the distance.

Luhan tore at the second bar. “Yixing, help me! We can make it!!”

“No.”

“What?!”

The third plank was lodged in deep, its nails imbedded into the wall. He yanked again, and it shimmied a tiny bit.

“‘ _Many will enter, only 1 will survive_ ,’” Yixing’s voice echoed through the room. “I’m going to stop it. Whatever it is. Save yourself, Luhan. I’ll buy you time.”

“Yixing, no!”

In his fear, he tore away the last wooden plank, leaving only the glass to shatter. But Yixing was already tumbling out of the room. He had a bat in his hands, and Luhan saw him jump through the ruined door, running full swing towards the killer with the gun, screaming wildly in his last ditch attempt to give Luhan time to flee.

Luhan choked out a sob. Yixing, his best friend, was going to sacrifice his life for him...

Tears streaked down his face, nearly blinding him, but Luhan pulled his elbow close to his body and prepared to elbow the window. Moonlight streamed in through the pane, illuminating the lifeless faces of the others in the room.

“I’m sorry,” he cried, and then threw himself through the glass.

  
  
  
\-------------

 _Whoareyou-andwhere-isSoo_ :  OMG OMG. What is this fic even! Since when did you write *tears* horror and gore!!! ??? I mean it was cool but YOU KILLED ALMOST EVERYBODY S;DKEJ;KJSD!!!!

(1) reply to _Whoareyou-andwhere-isSoo_ :  Sorry, I was just in a funk today? Idk I just felt like horror.

 

 _Snaillover93_ :  I came here for the Layhan and honestly didn’t expect to see them attacked!

(1) reply to _Snaillover93_ :  Sorry, I’ll write fluffy Layhan another time. Look forward to it!! xD

 

 _SiriouslynotBaek:_  Dude, did “J” do something to make you upset? Remind me never to make you mad!!

 

(4) replies to _SiriouslynotBae_ k: If you don’t want to die gruesomely in a fic one day then it’s simple: don’t talk to me, and/or don’t make me kiss anybody. Ever. again.

 

\-- Kissing? who said anything about kissing… *coughs*

 

\-- That’s it. You’re dying next.

 

\-- *eeep*

  
  
_Mynameisnotsuho:_ Uhmm, well that was scary…

 

\-------------

 

 

 

The time on his watch read something like 1am. Jongin rubbed his eyeball and stared at it again. It couldn’t… be so late already. His head was pounding and his brain hurt. He and Seulgi had been through so many notes so many times that if Jongin just survived the night, he was pretty sure he’d be the most prepared student for the exam.

Usually he wasn’t this good at studying, but when the alternative to shoving facts down his brain was letting Seulgi’s conversation drift towards anything remotely flirty, he’d take the facts any day.

He rifled through his notebook, yawned and turned a page of the textbook beside it. Kyungsoo had gone to sleep an hour ago. Jongin tried not to notice how instead of his usual sleep clothes, he’d left on his good pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt. With Seulgi still in the room, Jongin felt bad for making Kyungsoo self conscious. That and he missed the usual split-second sight of Kyungsoo slipping his pants off before dashing under the covers to sleep boxers-only.

He sighed. It was sooo late. He needed to tell Seulgi they should quit for the evening, but when he spared her a glance, his heart stopped blank.

She’d been laying against the headboard of his bed, pillows propped up cozily while they studied and discussed their notes. Jongin sat on the end of the bed, his legs perfectly crossed so that they wouldn’t accidentally touch hers.

Somewhere though, in the last five or ten minutes when he thought they’d been studying silently, she had fallen asleep. Asleep, on his bed. Her hair slipped messily out of her braid, wisps covering his face, and there were dark circles under her eyes that still couldn’t entirely mask her prettiness. She looked exhausted, her breathing even. He… he needed to wake her up, tell her to go home. But he knew from having talked to her earlier that she didn’t live on campus. Her apartment was a thirty minute bus ride away, and at this time of the night… it probably wasn’t safe. He couldn’t do that to her… Jongin wouldn’t do that too her. But he really should have thought about all this hours ago.

He set his books down gently off the side of the bed and then eased off the mattress. Seulgi took up no more than a fraction of his bed, but Jongin wasn’t about to scoot in next to her. He weighed his options. Waking her up was a definite no. Sleeping on the floor didn’t appeal to him either, nor did he want to go out and find Sehun whose roommate rarely slept in. That would leave Kyungsoo alone in a room with a girl, and after watching Kyungsoo silently glare at her all evening, muttering under his breath and typing angrily whenever they got too rowdy, he knew Kyungsoo wouldn’t be happy in the morning if he woke up and Seulgi was still there, alone.

There was no other choice really.

Jongin slipped silently into the bathroom, grabbing a semi-clean pair of shorts off the floor. He brushed his teeth and slapped water on his face and then crept back out to survey his room. Seulgi was out cold, even snoring just a tiny little bit.

He padded over to Kyungsoo, and touched him gently on the arm. It was just to see if he was awake, Jongin swore, but it felt so… nice. He didn’t actually expect Kyungsoo to flinch and turn his head.

“Jongin??”

“Shhh, Seulgi’s asleep. Scoot over will you?”

“What are you…”

“Can I sleep here tonight, please? Just tonight, I promise.”

 

 


	11. The Morning After

Baekhyun was staring at them.

This wasn’t technically unusual, Baekhyun stared at a lot of people when he wanted to see them squirm. Call it an annoying habit, a reason to hide, an excuse to avoid him when all possible, but right now, with Kyungsoo on one side of their small dorm room and Jongin on the other, and Baekhyun in between… there was nothing to do except ignore him and hope he’d go away.

“Both of you are so quiet today!” Baekhyun smirked, interested. Jongin imagined that if Baekhyun were a dog he’d be sniffing the air, testing the atmosphere. To smell… what? The awkwardness in the room? Was the giant pink elephant actually a thing? Was that why Jongin felt like he was suffocating?

“I said,” Baekhyun peered at both of them again, intensely, “you’re really quiet today.”

Kyungsoo was the first to break. “So?”

He didn’t make eye contact.

“So, it’s just… a little weird, even for you two.”

Jongin cleared his throat. Kyungsoo toed a discarded sock on the floor next to his bed. Then he paused, and he and Jongin and Baekhyun all realized in that very second, that it was Jongin’s sock. Not Kyungsoo’s. Jongin’s sock on the floor next to Kyungsoo’s bed. Did Jongin mention that that it was his sock? On the other side of the room than it should have been.

It was barely noon, and not nearly late enough for Jongin to feel capable of dealing with this right now. He needed caffeine. Coffee. Two pots of coffee and maybe several liters of soda. He’d even take a pretty cup of tea if it helped. Maybe he could pour it over himself and pretend it was so scalding hot that he needed to leave immediately and locate the university medical offices.

“Is that…” Baekhyun started to ask.

The sock was navy blue, like Jongin often wore. Kyungsoo only ever wore white.

“Hey, did I tell you I have a big exam in a couple days. Sorry, I really don’t have time to visit. I need to get back to studying-”

“Oh! Thats right,” Baekhyun picked up his school back and started to stretch side to side. “Sorry, I just dropped by because I was bored and you two are always such late risers so I guessed you’d still be here and oh- hey, I heard you were studying with Seulgi? Until super late?”

Jongin gulped. Did he just… mistake that look on Kyungsoo’s face all the way across the room as a snarl? Maybe it was just a trick of the light. Or, no it was definitely a snarl. After the pain and suffering Seulgi’s presence in the room had brought him over the night, it wasn’t unfounded.

A few bruises, elbow jabs to his rib and one to his cheek which Jongin was amazed didn’t leave a lasting mark. Kyungsoo looking like he and Jongin had a wrestling match in the night is not what he wanted Baekhyun to leave thinking about.

Even if it was kind of true.

This morning.

When Jongin woke up and realized how they were sleeping.

Too close. A little too close….

Thus he freaked out and spazzed and flung every limb in every direction and, yeah… he’s lucky Kyungsoo didn’t beat him black and blue in retaliation. Kyungsoo had looked just as horrified, but that’s probably because he was - by the time Jongin flew across the room in fright - holding his side tightly and grimacing in pain.

“Uhh huhhhhmmm,” said Baekhyun. And Jongin’s thoughts were drawn immediately back to the present. “Seulgi?”

“Uhhh. Yeah, we just studied. She left though. Last night.. or.. well. I don’t know when she left.”

Come to think about it, he really didn’t. She was gone before Jongin woke up. So that was a relief. Or was it.

“She… wait, you don’t even know when she left? What, did you fall asleep or something? I’m confused.”

“You know what, I really do have to study now though, Baekhyun. Goodbye.”

After a few grumpy shoves, and one quick-slamming door - Jongin even bolted the lock - he sighed, a deep inhale and exhale of relief. Then he realized that, Baekhyun was locked out, yes, but Jongin was still locked inside his room with a very serious problem.

“So…” Kyungsoo’s voice was soft. They hadn’t spoken since the incident upon waking up.

“Hmm?”

“So, when’s your test again?”

Jongin grimaced. It was hard to resist frowning across the room. They woke up in the same bed! The same, bed! Cuddling! Or something near to it. Were they just not going to talk about that? Kyungsoo wasn’t going to mention that Jongin had inadvertently turned him into a body pillow in the night because soft, cozy things that produce their own heat and are also simultaneously K-y-u-n-g-s-o-o, draw Jongin in subconsciously like a…

“Oh, screw metaphors,” he gruffed under his breath.

“What was that?”

“Nothing. Nothing. Uhm… I should, you know what I think I’ll go study in the library. They have some… research books I… need. Yeah. See you later.”

 

 

 

 

As a matter of coincidence, he ran into Joonmyun later in that very same library. To be honest, they never really spoke much outside of situations like this. Jongin guessed he was a great guy, but there was something embarrassing about having accidentally read the same bit of smut on the same computer screen, and both of them knowing who exactly wrote it.

“Are you… busy?” Joonmyun casually asked, his backpack folded around in front as he carried it like a baby. It looked heavy, Joonmyun looked stressed. Jongin was stressed and his eyes were beginning to go crossed from too much studying.

“No? Please.” He indicated for the man to sit down across from him. Theirs was a quiet corner of the library, but not too remote from other tables to make it impossible to speak out loud.

“You looked… well, tired?”

Jongin laughed. “A bit, yeah. Rough night. Didn’t sleep much.”

That was a lie for sure. He did sleep. He slept a little too hard though, his dreams getting the better of him.

Joonmyun cleared his throat and looked about awkwardly. Jongin did the same. Awkward, it was very awkward. Could he describe it more so? Awkward. Kyungsoo probably had plenty more ways to describe such situations in a fic, but right now Jongin was at a loss. Sometimes the simplest word worked best.

“Uhm. So, how is your week?”

It was a lame question of course, but what else does one ask of an acquaintance like this?

“Pretty good. I haven’t had a lot of time to read fics though.” Well, that was… straight to the point. “So maybe next week I can catch up. Exams and all, but that means I’ll probably have a lot of time to marathon stuff.” He gave a weak smile which Jongin weakly returned.

“I know the feeling.”

Jongin shuffled around some of his papers and notes, closed one book, opened another. He wanted to be sociable, but how to do this? Joonmyun hadn’t even taken off his backpack. It rested on the table as he leaned over it, chin almost resting. Was it like, a pillow? He could totally see Joonmyun falling asleep in almost this same position.

Except Joonmyun didn’t look sleepy. In fact, he looked curious about something.

“I have to ask…”

Jongin looked at him sharply. “Yes??”

“Are you and Kyungsoo… I mean, do you and him… Or, are you a thing?”

_A thing…_

“A thing?”

“Together. Dating, you know.”

_Why was he asking this._

“Why are you asking?”

Was it that obvious? Did the whole world know that Jongin was head over heels? Was his crush that obvious, because if it was, then shit- did Kyungsoo know this too?!

“So you’re not?” He looked befuddled. Jongin neither confirmed or denied this statement, he was too busy trying to keep his chill. “That’s so weird then, because I swear half the characters he writes are based on you, and you and him are always together and you read his stuff and-”

“I don’t get what you’re saying,” Jongin interrupted.

Another lie. He kind of knew exactly what Joonmyun was getting at. It’s just that he never really wanted to put two and two together. Call him an idiot, call him block-headed, but he wasn’t completely ignorant. He’d noticed the same things…

“You… so, you don’t think he likes you then?” Joonmyun was starting to look bemused.

“I…” Crap. “I have to go, sorry.”

 

 

 

 

Kyungsoo hadn’t expected him back, that was obvious right away. His eyes were huge, nostrils flared, cheeks actually turning red right where he sat, fingers poised above the keyboard when Jongin swung the door open.

It was an arresting sight. Almost took Jongin’s breath away. Kyungsoo hadn’t even brushed his hair yet. It probably smelled exactly as it did when Jongin woke up this morning with his nose pressed against Kyungsoo’s upper cheek.

“You’re… back…”

He hadn’t moved a muscle. Jongin saw from the whitish reflection against his face that he probably had up the white browser page in which he was writing.

“Yah. Library was too noisy. What are you doing? Writing stuff?”

He dropped his bag and pretended to casually saunter across the room towards him. He stretched his arms high above his head as he did so, very cool, very calm. Or not at all.

“I… yeah. Why?”

“Hm? Oh nothing, just curious. Can I read it?”

He was suddenly really thirsty for fics.

Kyungsoo’s index finger immediately darted across the touchpad and the light faded. “I’m not done yet. Maybe later.”

Jongin found himself confronted with the generic new tab page, Kyungsoo’s work hidden from view. It made him profoundly depressed, he realized, but also determined to know more.

“What’s the pairing?”

Kyungsoo miffed. “Guess.” He opened up another page and began scrolling down through blurbs of news articles and stories, innocent things compared to what he may have been writing.

“Xiuhan?” Jongin guessed.

Kyungsoo chuckled. “Right on the first try, how did you know.”

Jongin allowed himself a smile. He stood behind Kyungsoo, hovering over his shoulder and silently read the same news summary in time to Kyungsoo’s scrolling.

“So what genre? Fluff? Angst?”

“Just some fluff,” Kyungsoo quietly admitted.

Jongin murmured. “So, can I see it?”

“I told you it’s not done yet.”

“So? Isn’t it something you’ll show me anyways?”

“Yeah, well, but… not now?”

“Ahh, please?”

“No.”

He considered pushing it, but, as he noted earlier, Jongin is really bad at that. His burning curiosity would have to wait. Kyungsoo was so close. In one tiny shift Jongin could put his hand on the other’s shoulder. He didn’t.

Sighing deeply he threw himself on his bed instead, face down, shoes and all. Forget being comfy when his feelings were on the line.

He lost track of how long he lay there. Long enough for his muscles to grow tense, stretched abnormally from the awkward angle of his neck and ribcage and one foot dangling sadly off the bed.

“Jongin?”

His first reaction was to grunt and ignore.

Then Kyungsoo nudged him on the back. He hadn’t even realized he’d gotten so close.

“Hey, Jongin? What’s the matter?”

Since Kyungsoo didn’t appear to be moving away anytime soon, Jongin turned his head. He came face to face with Kyungsoo’s knees and that was as good as he could make it.

“My back hurts.”

Well, that was also true. He didn’t expect anything to come of it.

“Move over.”

“What?” Something was now nudging against his side, the same knee Jongin had stared at a second earlier.

“Move over, I’ll massage your back.”

Panic, followed by the general thought, this isn’t a good idea. Jongin was powerless to act otherwise. This morning started with him waking up in Kyungsoo’s bed; now Kyungsoo was scooting his butt onto Jongin’s bed and pressing his small hands to the backs of his shoulder blades.

 

 

 

 

**_Bonus Scene “A Xiuhan Bed Tale”_ **

_SootheMan writes:_

  


“Hey,” the whisper wakes Minseok from his light sleep. He turns over, hiding from a stray ray of sunlight criss-crossing over his face.

“Hmm?” he murmurs back. A hand touches his forehead, pushing back his bangs.

“Are you awake?”

“I am now,” Minseok grunts.

Lu Han was never a very deep sleeper. Usually that translated to him tossing and turning and elbowing Minseok all night, whatever dreams or nightmares that kept him from resting. It was hard, sleeping beside each other on a twin bed. Honestly, Minseok prefers getting a whole mattress to himself, but there are a few worthwhile things to sharing his night with Lu Han. Endless cuddling, warmth, the feeling of being liked and liking back.

“Is it time to wake up?” Minseok asks.

“Depends on what you want to do today.”

Minseok snorts. “What’s that mean?”

“Well,” he can feel Lu Han smiling against the curve of his neck, his hand sneaking around his waistline in an all around cozy air of togetherness. “I mean, if you wanted to be productive - school, work, social obligations, or food - then we should probably start thinking about moving. But if none of that appeals to you, I am perfectly fine laying here for a few more hours, back ache be damned.”

Minseok chuckles softly. “How long have you been awake?”

“An hour-ish. Heavy on the ish. You’re really cute when you’re sleeping. I couldn’t go back to sleep.”

It’s such a tempting invitation, to lay around for the rest of the morning, snug and warm beneath the blankets with their legs entwined and Lu Han spooning him from behind. Why, why does reality always have to catch up? Why does daylight even happen?

“I guess I should move,” he whines.

“You only guess?” Lu Han follows up his nudging with a light press of his lips to the spot below Minseok’s ear. He squirms and wriggles away from it, ticklish, especially at this hour of the morning.

“Yeah, well, social obligations and all.”

“If you say so,” Lu Han whispers in return.

 

Sadly, or perhaps happily, they remain there for another hour or so…

 

 

 

  


\----------

  


_Xiuhan-noona:_ I hate you, I hate you forever for not continuing this fic, like ds;lkajw; how does it enddd??? What happens in that next hourrrr???

  1. reply to _Xiuhan-noona:_ Sorry, I was trying to finish it and then I got distracted. Perhaps more later.




  


_365cuddlin43var:_ Beautifullll

  


_ImissTao:_  This is really sweet but why do you always leave the fluffy stuff for xiuhan??

  1. reply to _ImissTao:_  I don’t see the problem here




  


_ChenChen_myheart:_ This is really sweet, I love it when you write like this. Hope you have a good day!!  <3

 

_SiriouslyNotBaek:_  Well this is… intriguing.

  


_Baozis4delish:_  This is the best, the absolute best. But please! I agree with Xiuhan-noona, when do we get the rest of the scene???

  1. reply to _Baozis4delish_ :  All in good time, all in good time. Perhaps.




  


  
  
  
  
  


The door opening up startled both of them. Jongin jolted, Kyungsoo sprang from away from the bed. And that right there was the most incriminating thing they’d done. It was just a back massage, right? Just a back massage!

So why did each of them look so guilty when confronted with Baekhyun and his ever meddling ways?

“Ah hah! I knew it! _I just knew it!_

 


	12. The Walk, The Talk, or How To Write a Xiuhan AU

The words, “Let’s take a walk.”

Ordinarily Jongin wouldn’t think much about them. He went on lots of walks. Walking was a way of life on a campus where half his classes were spread out in every which direction, and sidewalks were a way of life. You needed to walk to get to the cafeteria. You needed to walk to get to the library. You had to walk a very long way and for a very long time to escape from deep thoughts, and that was only if you were lucky and your brain decided to oblige.

Sometimes he and Kyungsoo ‘went for walks’ together.

In most cases, however, it wasn’t because they had successfully tossed Baekhyun out of the dorm room for the second time in one day, and it wasn’t because they both felt like they needed some space and fresh air and the ‘walk’ was just an excuse to go somewhere… without knowing where they were going. Physically, emotionally.

Jongin wished he had grabbed a sweater. The path he and Kyungsoo happened to take was shaded. There was a slight breeze. Kyungsoo’s arms seems to erupt into goosebumps with every passing gust, and Jongin couldn’t say why it was easier to focus on this seemingly small detail than it was to think about the reason they were out for a walk.

“Let’s talk a walk.”

In story lingo, that meant, “We need to talk.”

Walk, talk. In English, at least the words rhymed.

“So.” Jongin liked to start conversations with an air of authority and decisiveness. Too bad he wasn’t skilled in putting that into practice.

Kyungsoo didn’t respond. Instead, he kept his gaze lowered to the sidewalk before them, his feet shuffling on the concrete.

They’d someone maneuvered themselves into a quieter, less peopled path. That meant more space for the deadening silence. Other than a few birds and the wind, and Kyungsoo’s shuffling feet, there was nothing to distract them.

“I think Baekhyun has an idea about us,” Kyungsoo finally spoke.

Well, that was obvious. But Jongin’s burning thought was if Baekhyun might actually be right. Just this once, couldn’t Baekhyun be prophetic? Jongin would sit through hours of torture - maybe - if he could be right, please, let him be right.

Unfortunately, all that hinged on whether or not Jongin could confess.

“I…”

He chickened out.

Kyungsoo stopped walking and looked up instead, right into Jongin’s twisted, tortured face.

“You…?” he prompted.

“I… I really like…” Jongin tried this again. It probably wouldn’t work until the third time - third time’s a charm, isn’t it? - but you couldn’t reach third if you didn’t attempt second.

“Yes?” Kyungsoo prompted again. He scrunched his nose impatiently, fingers disappearing into small round fists on either side of his jeans. He looked about as nervous as Jongin felt, and that gave Jongin enough confidence to go forward.

“I… really like your fics.”

“Huh?”

“Huh??”

“M-my fics??”

“Yeah!”

Kyungsoo snorted. Literally snorted and started walking again. Jongin had to skip a few times to catch up, so pissed with himself was he that he barely remembered how to move.

“Kyungsoo, wait!”

Kyungsoo didn’t stop. Instead, he actually sped up. It might have been a threatening gait but Jongin was blessed with longer legs. He matched his roommate’s pace and put a hand to his bare arm. He fully expected Kyungsoo to throw it off, after all, Jongin was an idiot and there was no way Kyungsoo would ever like someone as lame and stupid as him, right? Right? There were laws for these sorts of things. Whole genres devoted to heros with so little courage that they sad-napped their way through life because of a complete inability to confess! Jongin was totally that hero. He might as well move out and adopt a cat and start practicing in the mirror how to smile at the image of the love of his life moving on and falling in love with somebody else. Jongin would have songs written for him - Chanyeol could help - and he’d be the devoted best friend at Kyungsoo’s wedding and nobody would think it strange if he shed tears because weddings were such beautiful events. Then later, he’d get shit-faced drunk and wake up crying in an alley because if only he’d had the guts to tell Kyungsoo how much he liked him then maybe this whole scenario would never have happened-

“Jongin….? Jongin!”

He snapped out of it real quick. “What?”

He realized that, far from waking up drunk in an alleyway, he and Kyungsoo hadn’t moved. In fact, they were still standing on the sidewalk in the shade of a particularly beautiful leafy green tree, and Kyungsoo was demanding his attention. He was also cringing and pulling his hair apart with one hand. It was a bit alarming. Kyungsoo usually saved his angst for fiction.

“Are you… alright?” Jongin had to ask.

“I’m… no. Look, can we sit down?”

“Sit down, where?”

“Over there.” Kyungsoo pointed towards the tree.

The words, “Can we sit down.”

What did these mean now? Jongin tried to hash out every possible scenario and was halfway into an alternate universe where Kyungsoo was telling him all about how this charade of theirs needed to end, that Jongin can’t just silently stalk Kyungsoo and his husband-to-be on every private date and-

“Jongin, okay…”

Jongin sat, back to the tree stump and his knees pulled up against his chest. Kyungsoo was sitting likewise, still deliberating about something in his head.

“Okay… Look, I’m really bad at this but… I need to tell you something.” Kyungsoo’s words, not Jongin’s, as anyone might have expected.

“Okay?”

“I…” Kyungsoo bit his lower lip and fiddled with something in his back pocket. “I can’t… tell you… so… I’m going to text you, alright? Man, I wish I’d brought my laptop,” he mumbled a second later.

Kyungsoo unlocked his phone and angled the screen away from Jongin’s eyesight. Half a minute later, Jongin's phone buzzed inside his own back pocket and he quickly whipped it out, avoiding Kyungsoo’s shifty eyes.

_Hi_ , said the text.

Jongin huffed out loud, smiling.

_Hey,_ he texted back.

_I want to write this story. An au I've been specifically thinking about for a while now. Can I tell it to you?_

_Now?_ Jongin stared only at his screen. He was afraid to look, and anyways, Kyungsoo was already furiously typing up the next message.

_I'm afraid I'll forget it if I don't write down the premise right now. Please? Be my beta?_

That phrase shouldn't have made Jongin's heart start to clatter. But it did.

_Sure_.

He waited. The little '...' on the lower part of his screen taunted him. He practiced deep, even breaths, hoping to survive whatever this au was about.

_So, Lu Han and Minseok have been friends for ages, right? I know, it's cliche and I've probably written it before. But the last time I did this genre, it suddenly turned into this random murder mystery and Minseok disappeared and Lu Han became an assassin and well, you probably remember that. Anyway, it got too involved so this time I wanted something simpler._

_Simpler... okay..._ Jongin tried not to cry. Xiuhan, at a time like this? Although he knew of course that if he mentioned that thought out loud he'd be deserving of a slap on the face at least. There's no time but Xiuhan time, that was Kyungsoo's oft-spoken motto.

_So, they're friends. Only Minseok is worried that if he comes out and tells Lu Han he likes him, it'll ruin their friendship. And I know!! It's another cliche plotline, but just because it's cliche doesn't mean it's bad or that the world doesn't need more stories like it. It'll be good in the end, I promise! See, Minseok is pretty sure Lu Han likes him too. Like, it's been super obvious. Or, he assumes it is. And everybody knows..._

Jongin gulped, but he managed to get his fingers into texting position anyways.  _So what's the problem?_

_The problem is simple. He's pretty sure Lu Han likes him, or at least he's been sure for a good while now. But Lu Han never says anything. So Minseok can't help wondering, if there a reason for this? Is he just worrying about what'll change between them, or is it more complex than that? For example, is Lu Han thinking about what his family will say? He hasn't even properly come out. What if he's secretly freaking out? What if he likes Minseok, but not beyond a simple 'like' thing. What if he's not ready to commit because he's scared, meanwhile Minseok is going around writing stories about soulmates and also secretly freaking out because, it's entirely possible he's making this too complicated, but he's TOTALLY LOCKED INTO THINKING ABOUT WORST CASE SCENARIOS UNTIL HE'S NOT EVEN THINKING PROPERLY! sorry for the caps. I just.. like Xiuhan. And I mean, look it already happened to them, worse case scenario, and now they're separated by a sea and an enemy country and so what if they got to spend (probably) a week of Lu Han's vacation time together but-_

_So this fic idea..._ Jongin interrupts.

_Right! The fic. Anyways. What do you think. It's lame right._

_No it's not. How... how do you see it ending though?_

_See, that's where I'm stuck. I don't know about endings. Endings are the worst. They always suck. It's either, ta da! game over with kissing, or tragic oops- here comes the truck of doom_

_The truck of doom??? Seriously??_

_Okay, no truck of doom. But. Idk. help me?_

Jongin sighed and exhaled one long time.

_You could have Lu Han just go ahead and confess. Or..._

_Or??_

_Or Minseok can. It's... I mean one of those two options has to happen right?_

_There's always a third option._

_Neither confesses?_

_Yeah. Neither confesses._

_Don't like that._ _Someone has to say it. And... since your Lu Han sounds really dense, and this is your au, probably from what- Minseok's perspective? Then... why don't you confess. I mean make Minseok confess._

_So you think Minseok should do it._

_Yeah. He's braver, right?_

_Probably._

_Good. Then. See? it's not hard._

_You're right.. Okay. Minseok will confess. End fic. Minseok likes Luhan._

_The end._

_Beautiful right?_

_Xiuhan is... beautiful. Yep._

_And that's all._

_That's all._

Jongin wanted to slam his phone into the grass. It was only an annoying ray of sun piercing through the tree branches that distracted him. He squinted his eyes and huffed out loud again. But in his hand, his phone buzzed one more time. 

_What would you think of... being the Han to my Xiu? Please? I'll go first..._

 

 


	13. Exo Forever!!

It was party time in Baekhyun's house.

His dorm room actually, which he shared with Chanyeol. So really it was more of a room party with only six invited guests, and Chanyeol was supposed to be in charge of alcohol but he got busy and forgot to buy it.

“So… we have some powdered lemonade under my bed, and… water from the tap… and two cans of soda which I don’t know how long they’ve been here, but they were sitting next to the window at least as far as last summer so… hey, we can flip a coin to see who wants to die first?”

Baekhyun was never without a contingency plan.

Sehun went immediately for the lemonade, Chanyeol clutched one of the sodas, staring at it, as if by giving it the look the drink would magically not be flat. Joonmyun sat on the end of Chanyeol’s bed as if he didn’t know what he was doing here.

Jongin gulped, his throat already feeling dry because of the lack of prospects. The only person seemingly unaffected by the drink crisis was Kyungsoo. He sat on Baekhyun’s bed with his back against the wall and his laptop perched across his knees cushioned by a pillow.

“Hey, Soo… what do you want to drink?” Jongin asked him quietly. He had succeeded in getting him here, but Kyungsoo was up against a very serious personal deadline on a fic he wanted _done,_ and nothing - no party, no friends, no liquid, probably not even food, and certainly _no boyfriend_ \- was going to get in his way.

“Hang on… I’m in the middle… of this… dialogue…”

Jongin settled for sitting beside him. He accepted a paper cup of lemonade from Sehun who next jumped into attacking Baekhyun for being such a crappy host.

“Don’t blame me! This is Chanyeol’s fault!”

“We should have gone to my room,” Sehun complained. “At least I have an Xbox.”

Baekhyun turned his computer around on the desk and started an action movie, something with a lot of explosions and car chases, and which Jongin had no real interest in. He supposed party night had quietly morphed into movie night and was already lamenting the waste of an evening. He could be spending the night with his head in Kyungsoo’s lap listening to him type instead of feeling like he should behave in front of prying, curious eyes.

“Wait so you’re dating now??” Sehun had laughed when he first heard.

“Hey, congrats!” said Chanyeol jovially.

“Happy for you,” Joonmyun clapped him on the shoulder.

“It’s all because of me…” Baekhyun claimed dramatically.

And Jongin just let them heap on the praise and steal the credit, all the while knowing it had more to do with a certain pair of individuals Jongin had never met in real life but spent an inordinate amount of time thinking about.

Chanyeol ended up on the floor with his head knocking against Baekhyun’s knees. Joonmyun loosened up a little more as the movie progressed. Sehun sprawled all over the place and talked through every other scene.

Jongin just yawned.

He craned his head and rested it gently on Kyungsoo’s shoulder, curious about his fic.

 

> _‘This is boring,’ Jongdae complained, his foot poking Yixing in the side. ‘Don’t you guys have better games to play? I thought tonight would be fun, not a snooze fest. Hey, isn’t there any more beer?’_
> 
> _Tao pouted sympathetically. ‘Blame Kris. I told him we needed more, but would he get it? No… he’s saving pennies. He doesn’t want us to have any fun.’_

Jongin laughed. Baekhyun immediately looked over to see what was so funny, and Kyungsoo hissed at him to stop.

“Nothing, sorry, don’t mind me.”

They were quickly distracted by more flashing explosions and a helicopter crash, or more specifically, the tinny sound quality Baekhyun’s speakers emitted. The crazier the movie, the more they lowered the volume. It became a competition between Baekhyun and Sehun for control of the remote and Jongin, like Kyungsoo, had no desire to get involved.

  


In the weeks following ‘Kyungsoo’s’ confession via foolproof Xiuhan methodology, not too many things had changed between them. Kyungsoo still spent too much time writing fanfiction. Jongin was still awkward and uncertain about the proper ways for stealing his attention. They still shared the grocery bills and exchanged bathroom cleaning duties, and the biggest difference in their dorm room was that Kyungsoo made his bed more often so that Jongin wouldn’t feel so uncomfortable when he came to sit on it.

Of course they did a few other things too.

The first kiss… far better than Luchen’s rockstar experience, a little more circus Layhan-esque.

The first week of cuddling… definitely on par with Xiuhan bed tales, although perhaps a tad less smooth.

The first time they shared a shower… well, actually, never.

And talk about soulmates…? When did couples actually progress to this stage? Jongin felt the need to consult a few more fics before he chalked this up to his woe-is-me-maybe-we’re-not-so-destined line of thinking.

At the very least, they hadn’t gotten to the assassin ex-lover stage of life, there were no dinosaurs trying to eat their heads, no one grew tails or cat ears in the night, and the ax-murderer horror villain had yet to make an appearance. All was swell, when you looked at the world like that. Fluff and kissing? Published. Horror or makjang? Draft mode only. Life was great.

 

 

“I’m definitely hungry!” Baekhyun pouted when the movie was over. “Who’s ordering the pizza?”

“Uhm, you?” Sehun suggested.

They squabbled for several minutes before Joonmyun offered to call it in, pay for it, and go downstairs to collect it at the door. In the meantime, Chanyeol and Sehun tried to outdo each other on Facebook as they hacked their respective accounts, and Baekhyun draped himself over Jongin’s lap.

Kyungsoo promptly angled the laptop screen the other direction, but not before Jongin got another sneak pe _ek._

 

> _Were they really going to make Yixing pay for the take-out? Minseok shook his head and sighed loudly. His friends were really shameless, and if he wasn’t so into reading the latest steampunk trilogy he’d gotten his hands around, because reading was definitely more important than listening to his friends bicker. Only Lu Han understood… a testament to why he loved the guy._
> 
>  

Just last weekend Kyungsoo had put down his fics long enough to take Jongin by the hand, force him to put on socks, and then dragged him to the other side of campus to a coffee shop.

“I don’t come here so often because it’s too far to walk, but…”

A coffee shop. Kyungsoo was taking him to a coffee shop. Jongin grinned like a fool and Kyungsoo looked embarrassed, smacking him on the arm, but there was no hiding the fact that Kyungsoo was smiling too. Also, there was no disguising the inner workings of his brain, imagining things, setting up scenes. Jongin knew well enough now to indulge him.

“Alright, so who works behind the counter?” Jongin asked.

Kyungsoo frowned and his eyebrows squirmed. There was a middle-aged woman behind the register, a younger college age male working the blender, and a girl smiling sweetly as she passed customers their drinks.

“Definitely Chen at the counter. Kris can stay the guy, and Yixing’s the one asking everyone how their day is going and when he gives them their order. Look, that customer there is Suho - we can work him into this fic - and he’ll blush and almost drop the cup when their hands accidentally touch.”

The customer was a fifty-year-old balding college professor, but Jongin could easily imagine this otherwise. “I like it. And Xiuhan? Where are they?”

Kyungsoo chewed on his lower lip and gazed around. “There. In the corner booth. Look, Luhan’s sitting there hiding behind a large stack of books and he’s glancing out the window every other minute, pretending he’s not waiting for…”

“Minseok?”

“Yeah, he’s waiting on Minseok… who knows if he’ll actually come. They had an argument yesterday, but didn’t explicitly cancel their coffee date…”

Jongin was excited just hearing the story. There was a guy sitting at that booth and he looked nothing like Luhan, but he was staring out the window.

The bell above the door suddenly clanged, and both Jongin and Kyungsoo’s head swiveled to see who it was.

A haggard looking freshman boy, backpack pulled around to his front and he looked about to die.

“Not Minseok…” says Kyungsoo. “But Tao… Luhan will be so disappointed… Man, I really want to get back now and write this down.”

He looked back to his drink and chugged another sip, almost choking on the sweetness which had sunk to the bottom of his cup. Jongin took it from him and reached across the table, patting his shoulder.

“I thought we were on a date right now,” Jongin moaned poutily.

Kyungsoo finished coughing, and his eyes turned wide. “We… are. Sorry. I just, can’t help myself.”

“That’s okay,” Jongin reassured him. “

They continued their role-playing though, and ‘Minseok’ never did show up, but on their way back to the dorms, Jongin pulled Kyungsoo behind a large tree and kissed him there. And for a while, there was no Exo-M and no fanfiction. In fact, there was nothing fictitious as all about the way Kyungsoo’s hands stole around his back, pressing along his lower spine, or the soft gasps Jongin drew forth from the depths of his throat.

“Still want to write when we get back?” He asked dazedly a few minutes later.

Kyungsoo appeared to waver. “M-maybe… we can just make out a little more first?”

 

 

 

 

“Baekhyun, can I see your phone for a second?”

Chanyeol smeared the pizza grease off onto his pants before catching the device in the palm of his large hand.

“You’re sharing your cell phone now, Baekhyun? Wow, I’m impressed,” said Sehun.

Kyungsoo was sitting on the floor now next to Jongin, each of them stuffing their faces with pepperoni and cheese.

“I broke the screen a few days ago,” Chanyeol explained. “And my bestest roommate ever is letting me share his!”

“Yeah, so you can text your mom at the top of every hour.” Baekhyun laughed.

“Or maybe he has a girlfriend?” Sehun suggested.

“What girlfriend,” said Baekhyun, “he’s married to his Tao-inspired rap career, like Joonmyun is to Kyungsoo’s fics!”

At first, this didn’t appear so catastrophic. Kyungsoo swallowed the food in his mouth and raised an eyebrow, and Baekhyun’s phone slipped out of Chanyeol’s hands. It landed near Jongin’s leg where he picked it up. Baekhyun, however, continued chewing and talking with his mouth.

“What? You knew he was Suho, right?”

And that’s when it got awkward.

Sehun whistled, but the whole rest of the room grew quiet. Jongin was only thankful that Kyungsoo had nothing left in his mouth to choke on.

“What?” He asked simply, shocked.

Nobody answered.

“You’re… Suho? Suho, the ChenChen shipper, Lay-biased reader who comments on everything I write...?”

Slowly, very slowly, Joonmyun nodded his very pale white and immensely embarrassed face.

Kyungsoo seemed to muse on this for another thirty seconds. Then, with Jongin’s hand rubbing comfortable circles on Kyungsoo’s knee, he said, “Oh, uhm… Okay. Well, shit.”

Joonmyun looked like he wanted to melt into the floor, and after all the times Kyungsoo had made fun of him online, they were quite the pair of sad, miserable souls.

“I’ll write you anything. Anything you want, I’m…. really sorry…. For everything.”

The bait was offered, but would it take?

“Really?” Joonmyun was slightly mollified.

“Yeah, anything. I promise. I’m just…”

“Star Wars!au. Please? Any pairing. And… can I… can I be in it? I want to have a lightsaber and look cool, and Lu Han is the bad guy, and can Kris come in and save the day? Like, that would be cool right? Right?”

Jongin could already see Kyungsoo’s brain at work. Probably tomorrow he’d end up watching every Star Wars movie in one long giant marathon while Kyungsoo took notes. Maybe he could pick up some popcorn in the morning and cuddle-nap through the prequels? Yes, this sounded like it could work. He tuned out the rest of Joonmyun’s requests, starting flipping Baekhyun’s phone around and around in his hand. It landed with the screen facing up and the background picture visible.

“Uhm… Baekhyun?” Jongin asked, already afraid of how this whole thing would go.

“Hmm??” Murmured the owner of the phone.

“Since… when did you change your phone picture from Exo-M to…” Jongin wracked his brain to recognize faces, “Got17Friends?”

For that was the name of one of those newbie groups that Kyungsoo occasionally tossed his head at because, ‘So what if Exo is down to three members. They’re the best! They will be, forever!’ And here was Baekhyun already jumping ship.

“I… I can explain! I can explain!!!”

Even Sehun looked scandalized. Joonmyun pouted, Chanyeol sighed sadly, as if to say _I knew they’d find out soon…_

But nobody was more outraged than Kyungsoo.

“Baekhyun, you little traitor, you are so dead. You are so dying in my next fic, I can’t believe you abandoned your FIRST loves, you know what? Forget being dead. I’m writing you as a dog. You’re a dog boy, Baekhyun. I’ll write a Krisbaek dogboy fic because he’s your favorite idol, right? Favooorite idol. You love Kris, you Kris-biased piece of trash HOW COULD YOU ABANDON EXO SO SOON JUST BECAUSE TAO LEFT YOU THINK HE WANTED YOU TO BECOME A FAN OF ANOTHER GROUP? YOU THINK HE LEFT SO YOU COULD STAN GOT17FRIENDS?! TAKE IT BACK, YOU KNOW YOU STILL LOVE EXO-M! YOU KNOW THEY’LL BE HERE FOREVER AND WHEN YOU’RE IN YOUR GRAVE THEY’LL STILL BE THE BEST YOU’RE SO DEAD, YOU DOG I CAN’T BELIEVEEEE YOUUU!”

 

Needless to say, life as Kyungsoo’s boyfriend was always going to be interesting. Jongin couldn’t wait for more.

 

 

 

 

**_End._ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, so I say this is the end, but chances are... I could potentially add more scenes whenever, whatever. This has been such a loooong road! Apologies to the people who wanted plain Kaisoo here for the end, but this has always been a 'Kaisoo in the world of fandom' kind of fic. For this last chapter, I wanted to showcase Kaisoo how they are when they're together, and if it isn't all sparks and all-the-time romance (and still very ficwriter-heavy) well that's realistic, right? 
> 
> Thank you everyone for reading and for your comments, and for the people who inspired me with prompts and ideas. Don't unsubscribe yet just because I've marked this as complete!


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